Patna: Three persons, including a truck driver, were badly beaten by a mob for allegedly carrying beef in Bihar’s Bhojpur district on Thursday, police said.
A mob of local people, led by a few cow vigilantes, in Shahpur in Bhojpur stopped a truck on suspicion of carrying beef and beat up the driver and two others.
The victims pleaded for mercy but the attackers refused to relent. A team of Shahpur police rescued the three but arrested them for carrying beef in the truck.
However, angry locals demanded the police to handover the accused to them. When the police refused, they blocked Ara-Buxar road in protest.
“It was us who caught the truck loaded with beef, not the police. They came later after being informed and rescued the three accused,” a local Bajrang Dal leader Arjun Singh said.
According to police, the beef-loaded truck was on way from Shahpur to Muzaffarpur district.
The CPI(M) was quick to react to the incident and said it is a clear confirmation that BJP has assumed power.
"It is a clear confirmation that BJP has assumed power in Bihar. Now only Hindutva policies will be implemented while he (Nitish Kumar) continues to remain the Chief Minister," said CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.
Responding to questions, he said lynching and mob violence have "entered Bihar as soon as the BJP came to power there”.