A 35-year-old Muslim man was lynched in Odisha’s Balasore district on Wednesday after he was allegedly assaulted by a group of men who objected to the transportation of cattle in the van in which he was travelling, police said.
The assault took place around 5 am, when the attackers allegedly stopped the vehicle on the road and brutally beat both the driver and the victim, identified as Sk Makandar Mahammad.
While both were injured, Mahammad succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment at the Balasore district hospital.
A purported video of the incident, which has since surfaced, shows the assailants forcing the victim to chant “Jai Shri Ram.”
The assailants identified as Bapu, Pawan, Pintu, Nepali, and Chinu Telenga attacked Sheikh with sharp weapons, pipes and knives, inflicting severe injuries.
Initially, police registered a case based on the complaint of a sub-inspector at Balasore Sadar police station, but the FIR did not mention the assault. Instead, it named only the driver and the owner of the van and booked them under provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
According to this first FIR, a pickup van loaded with cattle was allegedly being driven rashly from the Jayadeva Kasba side, lost balance, and overturned on the roadside.
It claimed that by the time the police reached the spot, the driver had already been shifted to a hospital and a cow was found at the site.
“The cow was seized and brought to the Maa Bharati Goshala, and the pickup vehicle was brought to the police station. The complainant submitted a written report for taking legal action against the owner and driver of the pickup van,” the FIR stated.
Later in the evening, a second FIR was registered based on a complaint by the victim’s brother, Sk Jitendar Mahammad. In his complaint, he alleged that five men had intercepted the van and assaulted his brother with deadly weapons. He said that although a police patrol vehicle reached the spot and shifted his brother to the Balasore district headquarters hospital, he died during treatment.
Based on this complaint, the five accused were booked under Section 103(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which deals with punishment for murder committed by a mob.
The accused are also being questioned to ascertain whether more people were involved in the attack.
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