Police arrested five people, allegedly involved in the death of two Muslim cattle traders, one a minor, in a village in Jharkhand. They said they were still on the look out for three others, one of whom had a dispute with a relative of the victims. The police identified the arrested as Mithilesh Prasad Sahu alias Bunty, Pramod Kumar Sahu, Manoj Kumar Sahu, Awadhesh Sahu and Manoj Sahu.
In a hair-raising incident, Mohammad Majloom (35) and Inayatullah Khan (12) were found hanging from a tree igniting protests and an air of fear. A media report said the two men who were herding buffaloes were beaten and hanged to death by a group of cow-protection vigilantes in Chhattisgarh. The deceased, who were related to each other, were strung up with their hands tied behind their backs and their mouths stuffed with cloth. Latehar Superintendent of Police Anoop Birthary said, “The manner of their hanging showed that the assailants were led by extreme hatred.”
While Hindu radicals were blamed for the brutal murder, the police officials said that prima facie, the incident appeared to be a case of loot and murder. “The arrested persons have said they wanted to loot cattle and the cash from the traders.” The two cattle-traders were said to be herding altogether eight buffaloes to the local market “and selling them was expected to fetch few lakhs rupees to them,” said the police official. The police have recovered six buffaloes, four from the nearby forest area, so far.
“One of the absconding accused, whose name was not revealed, had some old issues with Majloom. The victims were first beaten with sticks and then strangled. Their bodies were later hanged,” he said. He said cattle traders are often targeted. “There are those who intend to loot the cattle and sell them in the market. Others pose as ‘protectors of cows’ and threaten traders with police action to extort money. But there are some who are driven by ideology. In this case, we have reasons to believe that the gang intended to loot the cattle. But we are probing other angles as well,” he said.
Munnavar Ansari, one of the younger brothers of Majloom, was the first family member to reach the spot where the bodies were found. “My brother and the boy were hanged with nylon cords which are used to rein in cattle. His mobile phone was missing and I also spotted a broken SIM at the place. The faces of both were covered with gamchhas (towels),” said Munnavar who runs a mobile phone repair shop in his village.
Majloom and Inayatullah were stopped on the road from Jhabar to Balumath. They were then taken to a place nearly 3 km away. While the police has maintained that the incident appeared to be a case of a loot gone horribly wrong, Majloom’s family members alleged that residents of Jhabar and other adjoining villages had threatened them in the past for dealing in cattle. His father, Mohammad Ibrahim, said, “I don’t seek revenge. I only want justice for my son.”
