Three beaten up in Bhojpur over suspicion of carrying beef

PATNA/ARA: A mob of cow vigilantes allegedly thrashed three men over suspicion of carrying beef in a truck in Bihar’s Bhojpur district on Thursday.

The incident took place on NH 84 in Shahpur police station area, 29 km west of district headquarters Ara and 70 km west of Patna, early Thursday. This is probably the first incident of mob violence in the name of cow protection in Bihar.

Police said the mob intercepted the truck carrying meat near a petrol pump, overpowered the driver and two others who were travelling in the vehicle and thrashed them.

Alleging that beef was being smuggled to West Bengal, the mob blocked Ara-Buxar stretch of NH 84, disrupting vehicular traffic more than three hours, the police said. The protestors also demanded action against the Shahpur station house office for his “failure to check beef smuggling”, the police added. Locals said illegal slaughterhouses had been running in the area and they had information that beef was being smuggled from Ranisagar village near Buxar for the last many days.

The situation returned to normal by noon after the Jagdishpur sub divisional police officer Dayashankar confiscated the meatladen truck and arrested driver Mohammad Sarfuddin Khan as well as Mohammad Ajmullah Khan and Mohammad Gulam Khan, who were travelling in the vehicle. Additional police force had to be roped in to control the protesters.

The arrested persons, who were from Rohtas district in south west Bihar, were being interrogated to find out if the meat they were carrying was beef, the police said.

Bhojpur district magistrate Sanjiv Kumar said sample of the meat had been sent for test. Strict action would be taken against those running illegal slaughter houses, the DM added.

Locals alleged that police were also involved in the “beef smuggling” racket. A local resident, on the condition of anonymity, said the arrested truck driver had also admitted that he had bribed cops for safe passage.