Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his much criticised “silence” on the lynching of a Muslim in a Dadri village following a rumour that he ate and stored beef, the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh too came up with a statement.
Mr. Singh termed the public lynching of Akhlaq a “planned conspiracy.” Those behind the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots were responsible for the Dadri killing too. “The information I have gathered is that three persons related to a particular party are behind the incident,” he told the media in Lucknow. His party would send a delegation to village, “after which it will become clear who these three people are.”
He promised action against those behind the lynching of Akhlaq. “We will do it even if we have to sacrifice the government in the process.”
Nine people have so far been arrested in connection with the incident and seven of them are allegedly linked to Sanjay Rana, a local BJP leader. Mr. Rana’s son Vishal is one of the main accused. Mr. Rana has claimed that his son is innocent and that he is being framed by the government.
Sangeet Som, another BJP lawmaker who is also an accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, is on the State government’s radar as well. The local administration of Dadri recommended legal action against Mr. Sangeet for violating the prohibitory orders under section 144 and allegedly making an inflammatory speech during his visit to the village. Mr. Sangeet had invoked Muzaffarnagar riots outside the very temple which was misused by the culprits to make the inflammatory announcement that resulted in the lynching.
Key developments:
| 1 | The Chief Minister had announced an increase in the financial assistance for the family from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh. |
| 2 | Vishal, son of Sanjay Rana, a local BJP leader, was arrested in connection with the case. >Read more |
| 3 | Family members of Mohammad Akhlaque Saifi, who was lynched over rumours about cow slaughter in this Uttar Pradesh village, had told the police about the possible role of Vishal, son of Sanjay Rana, a local BJP leader, in inciting the mob last Monday, sources say. |
| 4 | With two high-profile visits, first by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and later by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the area remained tense. Several hundreds of agitated village women on the streets protested against what they alleged to be “one-sided media coverage”. |
| 5 | Armed with stones, several hundred women took to the streets and abused presspersons and politicians. They chased the media outside the village in the morning and barred anyone from entering the village. |
| 6 | Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha told presspersons that the Air Force was in touch with the family and was looking to move them to a secure military locality. >Read more |
| 7 | Union Minister Mahesh Sharma had described the lynching as an “accident” and said that no “communal colour” should be given to it. >Read more |
| 8 | The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a probe into the incident. Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan said the probe would be completed on Wednesday. >Read more |
| 9 | In the wake of the killing, Vice-President Hamid Ansari said that progress and development can be achieved if the people of India are united. |
| 10 | In Dadri's Bishara village on September 28, a 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched and his son Danish (22) was brutally beaten up as punishment for allegedly eating beef on Eid and 'storing it' for later consumption. |