BJP leader among 11 sentenced to life

NEW DELHI: A fast-track court in Ramgarh district of Jharkhand on Wednesday sentenced 11 people to life imprisonment for lynching a meat trader in June last year over the suspicion that he was carrying beef in his car.

The accused, including the BJP’S local media in-charge Nityanand Mahto, were convicted by Judge Om Prakash under various sections of the IPC, including 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons) and 149 (unlawful assembly) on March 16.

A group of people had lynched Alimuddin Ansari, 40, in Bazaar Tand locality of Ramgarh town on June 29, 2017, on the suspicion that he was carrying beef in his car. Forensic tests later confirmed that the meat he was carrying was beef.

The sale of beef is banned in the state.

Additional Public Prosecutor S K Sukla said there were 12 accused and one of them is a minor. The 12th accused, a juvenile, is yet to face any action, but the prosecution has sought his trial as an adult.

The prosecution has moved the Juvenile Justice Board with a prayer that the minor is treated as an adult in the case, Sukla said. The charge sheet against the accused was filed in the case on September 17.

Phone call records had revealed that one of the accused followed Ansari for about two hours on June 29, informed two others about the victim’s location, before intercepting him at Bazaar Tand. The mob had also torched the vehicle of the victim.