Two Muslim men (Jirafuddin Ansari and Murtaza Miyan form Taljhari village) on suspicion of being cattle thieves were beaten to death by a vigilante mob in Jharkhand’s Godda District on June 13.
The two men were part of a gang of five people that entered a village and stole 13 buffaloes, police said.
Villagers caught hold of two of the thieves and started beating them due to which they died,” Rajeev Ranjan Singh, Godda Superintendent of Police (SP) said.
A case has been registered against the same and four villagers have been arrested, he added.
“The victims had previous criminal cases of cattle theft registered against them.” Bodies of the victims were handed over to their families following postmortem,” the officer said.
“Five people had gone to Dhulu village in the district to steal buffaloes, and as they entered nearby Bankatti village they were caught by villagers armed with bows and arrows. While three of them managed to flee, the two were surrounded and lynched by the villagers,” he further added.
“There is resentment among villagers about cattle thefts in the area. I am collecting reports about the incident,” Godda MLA Pradeep Yadav said.
According to the police, the probe was initiated and strict action will be taken against the people involved in the lynching of these two men.
