BHOPAL: Fourteen men have been awarded life imprisonment by an additional district and sessions court in Narmadapuram district of central Madhya Pradesh for lynching a Muslim man from Maharashtra over alleged cattle smuggling in August 2022.
Those sentenced to life imprisonment by the Seoni Malwa-Narmadapuram additional district and sessions judge Tabassum Khan on Friday, after being convicted for the August 3, 2022 murder of Amravati (Maharashtra) resident Nazir Ahmad, include 38-year-old Deepak alias Baba Kevat, Ajju alias Ajay Rathore (36), Prakash Kaushal (33), Chetan Maratha (23), Pawan Bathav (31), Amar alias Bhola Bathav (38), Kanhaiya Bathav (32), Devendra alias Chhotu Kori (22), Sandeep alias Raja Kaushal (26), Anuj alias Ballu Raghuvanshi (24), Sanju alias Rajendra Kaushal (39), Akash alias Pintoli Bathav (31), 24-year-old Gaurav Yadav (24) and Akash Sarathe (33).
Family members of the convicts later gathered outside the court premises in large numbers upon coming to know about the verdict.
As the police started shifting the convicts to jail, the convicts’ kin tried to stop the police vehicle, with some of the relatives even trying to lay down in front of the vehicle to block its passage.
Family members of the convicts were in tears after the court's decision, with some of them claiming that their children had gone for Gau Seva and Gau Raksha (cow protection) but were now facing the consequences of the incident.
The brutal mob lynching had taken place in Seoni Malwa area of Narmadapuram district on August 3, 2022 late night. A truck carrying cattle illegally was travelling from Amravati in Maharashtra when it was intercepted near Barakhad village at around 1 am by a group of 10-15 people.
After seeing the cattle being transported in the vehicle, the group allegedly assaulted the truck driver and the two other occupants.
Police reached the spot after receiving information about the assault and shifted all three injured persons to the hospital. Nazir Ahmad later died during treatment, while the other two injured persons survived.
Following the incident, police registered a case of murder and attempted murder against 14 accused and launched an investigation. After nearly three years of judicial proceedings, the ADJ court in Seoni Malwa on Friday found all 14 accused guilty and sentenced them to life imprisonment.