Jharkhand: BJP leader, 10 others get life-term for lynching Muslim trader

A 40-year-old meat trader was beaten to death by a mob in June 2017 suspicion that he was carrying beef in his vehicle

A fast track court here on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment for 11 people for lynching a meat trader in June last year over the suspicion that he was carrying beef in his car. The accused include BJP’s local media in-charge Nityanand Mahto.

Judge Om Prakash found the 11 people guilty under various sections of the IPC, including 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons) and 149 (unlawful assembly).

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 prosecution has moved the Juvenile Justice Board with a prayer that the minor be treated as an adult in the case, Sukla said.

The chargesheet 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.

Lynching in Ramgarh

A 40-year-old meat trader, a resident of village Manua in Hazaribagh district, was beaten to death by a mob in June 2017 suspicion that he was carrying beef in his vehicle. They dragged out the driver of the vehicle and injured him grievously. Alimuddin died while being taken to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Ranchi.

The mob also set the vehicle on fire.