Bhopal, Aug 4, 2022: A group of cow vigilantes has attacked a truck in suspicion of cattle smuggling that left a 50-year-old man dead and two others gravely wounded in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.
The incident occurred at around 12.30 am on the intervening night of August 2-3 when the cow vigilantes intercepted the Maharashtra-bound truck at Barakhad village near Seoni Malwa town of Narmadapuram district and assaulted the three men transporting 28 bovines, Narmadapuram Superintendent of Police Gurkaran Singh told NewsClick.
The deceased was identified as Nazir Ahmed.
Singh said the three men, all residents of Amravati district in Maharashtra, were illegally transporting cows in a truck bearing the registration number of the adjoining state for allegedly selling in a cattle fair.
“Attackers had a tip-off about the truck as it was attacked merely 8-10 km after it departed from Nanderwada village,” Singh said.
According to the police, Ahmad was accompanied by Sayed Mushtaq (40) and Shaikh Lala (38). The wounded under treatment are in a government hospital. The survivors told the police that their attackers were armed with sticks and rods and stopped their truck and assaulted them without inquiring.
On being informed by the local people, the police rushed the three to a hospital where Nazir Ahmad succumbed to injuries during treatment.
Singh said that 26 cows have been rescued from the truck while two were found dead.
Police have lodged two FIRs in connection with the incident.
“As many as 12 unidentified people have been booked under section 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon) of the IPC, while another FIR was lodged for smuggling cows,” the police official said.
Lala, who was driving the truck, told reporters that villagers intercepted the vehicle that was heading to a cattle market in Amravati, Maharashtra.
This is the second such incident in Madhya Pradesh in the past three months. On May 2, two tribals were beaten to death on suspicion of cow slaughtering by a mob of 15 to 20 men in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district.
The deceased were identified as Sampat Batti, a resident of Sagar, and Simaria, who lived in Dhansa village.
The incident occurred early, between 2.30-3 am, in the Kurai police station limits of Seoni district. The police FIR said that the assailants belong to the Hindutva groups Bajrang Dal and Ram Sena.
Source: https://www.newsclick.in/MP-Muslim-Man-Killed-Suspicion-Cow-Smuggling-Two-Injured