100-strong mob thrashes meat trader to death in Jharkhand

A mob of more than 100 people in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district lynched a 45-year-old Muslim meat trader on the suspicion of carrying beef in his car on Thursday afternoon.

The incident happened on a day Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned against cow vigilantism. Police said they “rescued” Alimuddin aka Asgar Ali from the attackers and he died in hospital. “Though injured, he was walking then. I think he died of shock,” Ramgarh sub-divisional police officer Shashi Prakash said. This is the second attack this June by cow vigilantes in Jharkhand as a 200-strong mob thrashed a 55-year-old Muslim dairy owner and set his house ablaze after a cow carcass was found near his home in Giridih district on Tuesday.

Pictures circulating on social media showed people hitting the man, meat pieces strewn on the road, and his car in flames.

In one photo, a bloodied and dazed Alimuddin was caught minutes before his death.

In May, people lynched four Muslim cattle traders at a village in Saraikelka Kharswan district after calling them child traffickers. Such attacks waged by so-called cow vigilantes in India have targeted mostly Muslims. Cows are considered sacred by many Hindus, and slaughtering cattle or eating beef is illegal or restricted across much of the country.

Ali of Monua village in Ramgarh district, nearly 50km from Ranchi, was allegedly carrying four sacks of meat weighing around 200kg. The mob intercepted him at Bazartand, pulled him out of the van, and thrashed him. Police arrived in 30 minutes and took him to Sadar hospital, Ramgarh, where he was referred to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi. Ali died minutes later.

PICTURES CIRCULATING ON SOCIAL MEDIA SHOW PEOPLE HITTING THE MAN, MEAT PIECES STREWN ON THE ROAD, AND HIS CAR IN FLAMES