Cow vigilantes hack to death a person in Ahmedabad

17 September, Ahmedabad

25-year-old man who was hacked allegedly by cow vigilantes here on September 13 succumbed in a hospital late Friday night, police said today. The Gujarat Government today announced the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) led by a Superintendent of Police (Special Operations Group) and two police inspectors and sub-inspectors each to investigate the incident.

A police officer on duty was suspended. Mohammad Ayub Mev was admitted to the municipal hospital with severe wound injuries after he was beaten up by unidentified people on the SG Highway on the night of September 13 on suspicion that he was into trafficking of cows. It so happened that Ayub’s sports utility vehicle carrying a bullock and a calf had met with an accident on the highway, according to Anandnagar police station inspector PB Rana.

He said the calf died in the accident while the bullock survived. On seeing this, some bystanders lunged towards Ayub shouting that he was carrying the animals for slaughter. As Ayub started running, the crowd chased him down and lynched him.

“A case of attempt to murder was lodged against the mob but now that the man has died, we will file an FIR for murder,” the inspector said. No one has been arrested so far. No cow protection group has been identified so far and the complaint is against unknown persons.

However, Ayub’s family kicked up a ruckus at the hospital last night demanding that the culprits be arrested. His wife and mother, along with the brother, refused to accept his body.

“Those who killed my brother were indeed gau rakshaks. My brother was not carrying any cow. Out of some grudge, these gau rakshaks mercilessly thrashed him. We want the police to nab the real culprits,” said his brother Imran.

The BJP-ruled state was rocked by a huge controversy in July when some Dalit youths were flogged in public by cow vigilantes at Una’s taluka Mota Samadhiyala village in Saurashtra region.