This story is from July 20, 2019

Mob lynches three ‘cattle thieves’ in Saran, seven arrested

Three people were beaten to death by a mob in Saran district early on Friday morning on suspicion of being cattle thieves. The police have registered two FIRs — one against the deceased for the alleged theft of cattle and the other for the attack. Seven of the alleged attackers have been arrested.
Mob lynches three ‘cattle thieves’ in Saran, seven arrested
Grieving relatives of the lynched victims plead before a policeman at Nandalal tola in Saran district on Friday
PATNA/CHHAPRA: Three people were beaten to death by a mob in Saran district early on Friday morning on suspicion of being cattle thieves. The police have registered two FIRs — one against the deceased for the alleged theft of cattle and the other for the attack. Seven of the alleged attackers have been arrested.
The incident comes barely a day after CM Nitish Kumar said in the assembly that crime, especially murders, has gone up in the state.
The CM had also asked the state police brass to rein in criminal activity or face action.
Senior police officials, including DIG V K Verma, Saran SP Hari Kishore Rai and Sadar deputy SP Ajay Kumar, went to the village to take stock of the situation. “Prime facie, it seems to be a case of cattle theft and people taking the law into their hands,” SP Rai told TOI. DSP Kumar said two separate FIRs have been registered, adding that there are 8 named accused and 50 unnamed accused in the attack FIR. Seven people have been arrested.
Residents of Pithouri Nayatola village under Baniapur police station said Raju Nat (30), Viresh Nat (35) — both from the Scheduled Caste Nat community — and Naushad Qureshi (40) were allegedly spotted stealing a buffalo belonging to one Bhikhari Ram and three goats belonging to one Rajbali Ram around 4.15am on Friday.
Locals say they were agitated over incidents of cattle theft
After the owners raised an alarm, the trio was caught by a group of people when they were allegedly loading the animals onto a pick-up van. The mob thrashed them with sticks and iron rods. Raju and Viresh died on the spot while Qureshi succumbed to his injuries at the Baniapur primary health centre.
The police went to the spot and seized the pick-up van, which was registered in the name of one Santosh Kumar, a resident of Gopalganj district. The bodies were sent to the Sadar hospital in Chhapra where the relatives of the deceased had an altercation with the residents of Pithouri village.

A major clash was, however, averted due to the intervention of police personnel deployed at the hospital. The relatives of the deceased demanded an impartial probe into the incident, which they described as ‘murder’ and part of a well-planned conspiracy. They claimed the three men were drivers, not cattle thieves.
Residents of Pithouri village — whose population mostly consists of Dalits — said they were agitated over the frequent incidents of cattle theft in the past couple of months. They claimed that while they had reported the thefts to the police, no action was taken. “Police ko jankari dene se koi fayda nahi hai. Koi action nahi hota hai (There is no point complaining to the police. No action is taken against offenders). That is why we had no option but to take the law into our own hands,” said villager Ramavtar Ram, adding that his cow was stolen about two years ago but the police had refused to register his complaint. The SHO of Baniapur police station, Sujeet Kumar, denied these allegations.
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