By M M Desk
- Godda (Jharkhand) : In another incident of mob lynching in the country, two men were beaten to death by a mob on Wednesday at Bankatti village in Jharkhand’s Godda district. The duo, both were alleged of stealing buffalloes.
Police officials confirmed that the villagers caught hold of the two victims – Sirabuddin Ansari (35) and Murtaza Ansari (30) – and accused them of stealing 13 buffaloes from one Munshi Murmu on Tuesday night and later killed them by blows and sticks.
The incident is not first of its kind in the BJP-ruled Jharkhand. More than a dozen people- in the last couple of years for lynching over suspicion of beef, cattle theft or child lifting- have been lynched in the state.
Both the victims are from the Banjhi Taaljhari village under the Podaiyahat police station of the district.
Commenting on the issue, DIG (Dumka) Akhilesh Kumar Jha said: “Four persons have been arrested for their involvement in the incident. The victims had allegedly stolen the buffaloes from a village and were sneaking out when they were caught. Further investigations are on.” He also said that the bodies of the victims were handed over to their families following the post-mortem.
Meanhile, police have arrested the suspects. Those arrested include the alleged owner of the cattle Munshi Murmu and Kaleshwar Soren, Kishan Tudu and Harjohan Kisku.
This is the third lynching in the state. While in Latehar two cattle traders were killed and their bodies hanged from a tree in March 2016, a beef trader was lynched by a mob comprising largely of Gau Rakshaks in June 2017, in Ramgarh district. In the Ramgarh lynching, 11 including a local BJP leader were convicted and handed life sentences for murder in the name of cow protection.