The local administration in Noida, under whose jurisdiction Dadri falls, have confirmed that the meat stored in Akhlaq’s home was simply mutton and not beef as had been claimed by the murderers.
“We have got the meat samples picked up from Akhlaq’s fridge tested by our animal husbandry department experts who said quite affirmatively that it was not beef at all,” Noida district magistrate N P Singh told Rediff.com over the phone.
What surprised the DM most was the fact that people in the neighbourhood were generally all praise for Akhlaq, who was well-known to villagers.
“The communal hatred took the life of an innocent Akhlaq”, DM comments. The victim’s family has alleged it was pre-planned,” he said
50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri village of UP, who was brutally beaten to death on Monday night after locals suspected him of storing and consuming beef. The 22 year old son of Akhlaq battling for life in hospital who was beaten and hit on the head and chest by the angry mob, leaving him unconscious.
After bearing the pain of the death of Akhlaq, now the family sees themselves in an eddy of worries including making arrangements to live somewhere else, other than Dadri.
“Many people, who used to visit us frequently, were part of the mob that night. When we cried for help, not a single neighbour came to our rescue. Nobody from Bisara came forward to help us that night,” said Askari, the 75-year old mother of Mohammad Akhlaq.
“How can we live in this place? How can we trust anyone? We are scared to let people enter our house. We don;t know what their intentions are. They can do anything to us,” we need to make arrangements to live somewhere else, added Askari.