Police have filed an FIR against unknown persons after a man was lynched by a mob allegedly for stealing cattle in Bihar’s Araria district on December 8.
According to the police, Mohd Siddiqui, 52, was lynched by a mob at Bhawanipur village under Fulkaha police station of Forbesganj sub-division in Araria district on Wednesday allegedly for stealing cattle. However, the incident came to light on December 10.
“A villager raised an alarm after he spotted some men stealing buffaloes and bullocks owned by his co-villager Sanichar Bariyet and when they started chasing thieves, one of them fired a gunshot in the air to scare them away but one of them Mohd Siddiqui was caught by the villagers while, others managed to escape. Mohd Siddiqui was beaten up with sticks and fists and he succumbed to his injuries,” said Fulkaha police station Inspector Nagina Kumar.
He also said an FIR has been lodged against unknown persons. Villagers said cattle thieves often sell stolen cattle to slaughter houses in areas bordering Nepal. The victim Mohd Siddiqui was identified as resident of the neighbouring district of Supaul.
“We’re questioning villagers to identify attackers as there were around 100 people gathered at the spot when the incident had happened,” said the police officer while adding, “no arrest has been made yet in the case”.
“We keep getting complaints of cattle theft regularly in the area but not of mob lynching, Arrests will be made soon in the case,” a senior police official of the district said.
In a similar incident last year, a 53-year old man was beaten to death by a mob on suspicion of cattle theft in Simarbani village also in Araria district. The incident come to light after a video of the incident went viral on social media.
