Two Muslims beaten to death in Jharkhand's Godda district over suspicion of cattle theft, four arrested

Two Muslim men were lynched by villagers in Jharkhand’s Godda district on suspicion of cattle theft, a senior district official said on Wednesday.

Deputy Commissioner Kiran Kumari Pasi said the victims were beaten to death allegedly by people in a village in the Deodand police station area on Tuesday night.

News18 further reported that 35-year-old Sirabuddin Ansari and 30-year-old Murtaza Ansari were beaten to death by some residents of Dullu village after being accused of stealing a dozen buffaloes.

The report further added that according to the police, the victims were allegedly part of a five-member gang which was involved in thefts.

A video of the lynching on social media showed one of the victims slung over a bamboo pole and being dragged.

Godda superintendent of police Rajiv Kumar Singh said two FIRs have been lodged: One of murder and the other for stealing buffaloes.

Four persons have been arrested in this connection, Pasi said, adding a huge police force, along with a magistrate, has been deployed in the village.

The situation in the village is under control, the officer said.

According to Debjani Chakraborty, a member of 101Reporters.com , the past four days in Ranchi have been communally tense. A communal clash broke out on 10 June when a crowd from the jam-packed Eid bazaar in Hindpiri’s Main Road, got into a fight with a group of people holding a bike rally celebrating four years of Modi government after one of their bikes hit a woman.

On the same evening, two clerics were attacked on the outskirts of Ranchi and were allegedly forced to chant the name of a certain god.

Now, over 1,000 policemen have been deployed in the area, which also witnessed two incidents of stone-pelting between two groups after a rumour of banned meat being found at a temple surfaced.

With inputs from Press Trust of India