A young man was allegedly lynched by six members of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal (RBD) on the suspicion that he was carrying illegal cattle in Nashik, Maharashtra. They are currently in police custody till June 17.
On June 10, a body of a 23-year-old man was found deep in Camel Valley near the Mumbai-Agra national highway. The road on the highway leads to Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray Samruddhi Mahamarg. The deceased was identified as Lukman Suleman Ansari, a resident of Padgha, Bhiwandi.
Ansari, along with two others, Pappu Atiq Paddi (36) and Aqueel Gulam Gavandi (25) was carrying two cows, a bullock and a calf from Karegaon district. They stopped to drink water at one Paghare’s house, where the cow vigilantes were alerted and they arrived there.
According to Gavandi, the RBD members started hitting them with bamboo sticks and demanded money but he managed to run away. However, Ansari and Paddi were taken in by RBD members in a private car where Paddi said he was hit on the head and he fell unconscious. He was in the hospital for a day.
The Igatpuri police arrested six accused on June 11 and charged them with murder. They were produced before a Magistrate and remanded to police custody till June 17.
“The accused were arrested the next day, the investigation is still going on and we can add more charges on them. There are marks on Ansari’s body which indicate that he may have been dragged. We don’t know yet if they were carrying legal or illegal cattle,” said the investigating officer.
The accused Pradeep Adhole alias Pappu from Ghoti, Igatpuri Bhaskar, Bhagat, Chetan Somawne, Vijay Bhagade, Rupesh Joshi and Shekhar Gaikwad are members of the RBD founded by Praveen Togadia, president of Antarashtriya Hindu Parishad.
