PATNA: In another incident of mob lynching, 32-year old Mohammed Alamgir was allegedly beaten to death over suspicion of cattle theft near Patna on Wednesday.
According to police sources, the deceased was caught stealing a buffalo by Srikant Rai, a local resident of Phulwari Sharif, who runs a cattle shelter.
Rai raised an alarm around 4.00 am on Wednesday, after which other villagers rushed to the spot and caught hold of Alamgir, while another alleged accomplice escaped.
The victim was allegedly beaten for hours until the local police reached the spot and rescued him.
He was then taken to Patna Medical College and Hospital for treatment where he succumbed to his injuries.
The deceased was the resident of Desari village in Vaishali district and was living in Patna's slum areas and working as a daily wage labourer.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi condemned the lynching of the Muslim man, on suspicion of being involved in cattle theft, and questioned the Nitish Kumar government over safety of minorities in the state.
"Soon after a Muslim is lynched, a backstory is created that they were killed because of some 'suspicion'. Somehow that is supposed to justify a bunch of cowards torturing and killing a human being. Where is the humanity?" the AIMIM chief asked.
According to the police, six have been arrested so far.
This is not the first time such an incident has taken place in Bihar. In 2019, another youth was lynched on the suspicion of being a cattle 'thief' in Mokama and 15 persons were arrested later by the police.
Similarly, three others were lynched at Paigambarpur under the Baniapur PS limits in Saran under same suspicions.
According to official sources, 39 mob lynching incidents were reported in 2019 in which 14 persons were killed and 45 were injured and more than 278 persons were arrested by Bihar police.
The lynching incidents in the state primarily occurred over the suspicion of either cattle or child thefts.