He returned home from Dubai to celebrate Bakrid. Week later, mob lynched him for alleged cattle theft in Bareilly

After Hapur, another Muslim man became a victim of mob lynching in Bareilly district of Uttar Pradesh on suspicion of stealing cattle.

Ironically, the victim who was identified as Shahrukh Khan, had come home to celebrate Bakrid. He worked as a tailor in Dubai. A resident of Bholapur Gindoliya village in Bareilly, Khan and his three friends were surrounded by a mob of 50 people on early Wednesday morning when they were chatting in a cattle yard.

While his friends escaped sensing trouble, Khan was caught by the mob. They charged him and his friends with stealing a buffalo from the house in the village. When the Muslim men denied the charge, Khan was badly assaulted by the mob.

On hearing the incident, the police rushed to the village and rescued Khan in unconscious state after beaten by the mob. He was admitted in a Bareilly hospital where he succumbed to internal injuries. The post mortem examination suggested that he died due to internal hemorrhage following severe beating.

Earlier, the police had registered FIRs from the villagers for cattle lifting against the victim and his three friends but later when tension prevailed in the village following Khan’s death, another FIR was lodged for mob lynching against about 30 unidentified villagers.

Abhinandan Singh, the Superintendent of Police Bareilly, said that four persons have so far been arrested in connection with the mob lynching incident. 

An eyewitness claimed that the victim was pleading the mob that he was just chatting with his friends and had no intentions of stealing any cattle. Villagers claimed that he was earning well in Dubai and had brought clothes and lot of other gifts for his family and relatives.