Ranchi: A 45-year-old Muslim businessman was lynched and his car set on fire in broad daylight on Thursday in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand by a mob of over hundred people who accused him of carrying beef.
The incident occurred two days after a dairy owner was attacked by a 1,000-strong mob in a village under Deori police station area of Giridih district in Jharkhand and his home was set on fire after the carcass of a cow was found near the house.
Alimuddin, alias Asgar Ansari, was driving his Maruti van when he was stopped and brutally attacked by a group of people near Bajartand village in Ramgarh district.
A senior officer said the police "swung into action" as soon as they heard about the attack and rescued the victim, but he died in a local hospital.
“Though injured, he was walking then. I think he died of shock,” Ramgarh sub-divisional police officer Shashi Prakash said.
Pictures shared on social media showed people hitting the man, meat pieces strewn on the road, and his car in flames.
In one image, a bloodied and dazed Alimuddin was caught minutes before his death.
The chief minister’s office refused comments. But opposition parties criticised the BJP government for rise in mob attacks by self-styled cow protectors.
State Congress chief Sukhdeo Bhagat alleged the mobs have the government’s clandestine support.
“This can be judged by the uncaring approach of the chief minister, who neither visited nor met any family of the victims in the state till date,” he said.
In May, people lynched four Muslim cattle traders at a village in Saraikelka Kharswan district after calling them child traffickers.
A citizens' protest was held on Wednesday in more than a dozen cities of India against the rising incidents of mob attacks and cow vigilantism across the country.
Few days before Eid al Fitr, 16-year-old Junaid, a Hafiz, was lynched, and his brother and two cousins mercilessly beaten iin a running train while they were travelling home in Haryana after shopping in Delhi.
The attackers, about 20 men, accused the teen and his companions of carrying beef and yelled religious slurs at them before they beat Junaid Khan and stabbed him to death. He was thrown off the train.