Murder over ‘beef’: 11 vigilantes arrested; survivor recalls trauma

11 cow vigilantes who were arrested by Nashik rural police for the attack on two cattle transporters which led to the death of one of them, have been remanded to custody until July 2.

On Saturday evening, a group of 15 vigilantes had stopped a Maruti Swift car at Gambhirwadi Phata near Igatpuri after receiving a tip off that a car with a certain registration number had been spotted at the toll plaza at Sinnar on NH160 carrying meat. The vigilantes, suspecting the meat to be beef which is banned Maharashtra, waylaid the car and attacked the two men in it with iron roads that left one of them dead and the other severely injured.

Nasir Quereishi, 24, the survivor, is still traumatised by the attack as he recovers from his injuries at KEM Hospital in Mumbai. He recounted how he and his friend Affan Ansari, 31, were stopped by the vigilantes as they transported carabeef from Ahmednagar to Qureish Nagar at Kurla, Mumbai. Carabeef is buffalo meat, the sale of which is allowed in the state. “I had the receipt to prove that we were carrying buffalo meat, but those people would not listen. They kept shouting ‘Jai Sri Ram’ and hitting us.”

Quereishi who works as a driver said he is now determined to fight for justice. “This is so that others like us don’t face the same fate.” While he had done the Ahmednagar to Kurla run in the past, this was Affan’s first run, he said.

“He just wanted to earn some money during the Bakri Eid season,” said Affan’s uncle Afzal Ansari, explaining that there’s a high demand from Kurla’s butchers for carabeef at this time and fetches good price. Quereishi said the vigilantes also took away the ₹25000 they were carrying and also their cell phones.

Quereishi who has suffered head wounds said he can identify his assailants. He alleged there were a couple of men in the group who were dressed in military fatigues who handed him and Affan over to the mob. He said the mob kept beating them even after the police arrived.

The Jamaat E Islami has now offered legal aid to both families to monitor the case. “If the police see that the family isn’t is unable to follow up, they often allow the accused to get bail and water down the charges,” said a member of their legal cell.

Saturday’s lynching took place about 25 km from the spot where two other cattle traders had been similarly attacked by a mob on June 8, which too had resulted in the death of one of them. In that incident, the Igatpuri police had charged six members of the Rashtriya Bajrang Dal for the murder of cattle trader Lukman Ansari.

“This group involved in Saturday’s attack goes by the name of Gau Rakshak Group which too claims to be engaged in the protection of cows in the region. This is the first time they have engaged in this type of attack,” said Nasik Rural Superintendent of Police Shahaji Umap. The two groups of vigilantes, he said, did not work in concert. While the Nashik rural police await the forensic report of the meat they seized from the car, they have also filed a separate case against Quereishi and Affan for allegedly carrying bull meat along with buffalo meat. In 2015, the-then BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis had proscribed the sale of bull meat too in the state.

Members of the Gau Rakshak Group who campaign actively on social media against the sale of cattle meat, have been booked under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 326 (Voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 324 (Causing hurt), 143 (unlawful assembly), and 148 (rioting) at Ghoti Police Station. The accused arrested have been identified as Jivram Kisan Gawli, Bhushan Jaganath Ahire, Laxman Lahanu Godse, Hemant Hirasingh Pardeshi, Kiran Sunil Gawli, Roshan Sukhdev Tupe, Rahul Baburao Wakchowre, Mahesh Atmaram Gadve, Sanket Balasahen Sanap, Roshan Dashrath Tupe, and Ganesh Vishnu Tupe.