The vigilantes beat up two occupants of a car and one of them, Afaan Abdul Majid Ansari, a resident of Mumbai’s Kurla, later died, while the other sustained serious injuries. He is critical.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — In the second case of mob lynching within two weeks, a 31-year-old Muslim man was beaten to death by cow vigilantes with rods and wooden sticks in Maharashtra’s Nashik district on Saturday night.
Afaan Abdul Majid Ansari, a resident of Mumbai’s Kurla, died on the spot and Nasir Hussain Sheikh was critically injured. The local police have arrested 11 members of the cow vigilante group after booking them under the charges of murder and rioting, media reports said.
A video clip of the incident viral on social media shows a crowd of people surrounding the victims.
Talking to local media, family members of the deceased blamed the RSS and Bajrang Dal hooligans for Ansari’s murder and asked the government to offer all assistance to his small children and the widow.
“Gaurakshak and people from the RSS are involved in the killing. A mob of 26 people picked up the victims from the toll checking, took them to another place and beat them up for three hours. They were beaten up mercilessly after their hands and legs were tied,” reports quoted Mohammed Asgar, an uncle of Ansari, as saying.
He said the vigilantes accused the victims of smuggling meat but there was nothing in the car they were travelling in. The car has also been completely damaged.
“The government has given a free hand to the Bajrang Dal and RSS. Their hooliganism continues to rise. If this continues, all mothers will lose their sons. What to do? The government is not doing anything. If a Muslim man kills anyone, they call it ‘terrorism’,” said Asgar.
He asked the government to help the widow and small children of Ansari and demanded justice in the case.
The mother of Ansari said that she wants to tell the police administration that what happened to her son should not happen to other’s sons.
Appealing to the cow vigilantes, she said: “If you got hold of my son, you should not have killed him in such a brutal manner. You should have handed him over to the police and the government. They would have done the needful. If people from the RSS and Bajrang Dal will do this, what is the need of the government”.
Superintendent of Police Shahji Umap (Nashik Rural) said on the basis of Sheikh’s statement, a case of murder, attempt to murder and rioting was registered and eleven persons were taken into custody. “With the help of CCTV footage from the spot and other technical assistance, the suspects were identified, located and subsequently arrested,” the SP said. Officials added that the meat will be sent for forensic examination,” he said.
Talking about the incident, Umap said that an employee of a toll plaza near Sinnar initially noticed that the two were carrying meat inside their car. The employee then informed a member of the cow vigilante group there who then forwarded the information to his accomplices in Ghoti.
The two were attacked around 25 km from the scene of another mob attack that left another person, Lukman Ansari, 25, transporting cattle dead on June 10. Six members of Rashtriya Bajrang Dal were arrested for murdering Lukman Ansari, whose body was found in a gorge.