BULANDSHAHR: After mob violence broke out in Bulandshahr leading to two deaths including that of an Inspector, the UP police arrested four Muslim men on charges of slaughtering cows.
The four men Sajid, Sarfuddin, Asif and Nanhe have been in custody and since then they were repeatedly pleaded that they were innocent.
Now, almost after two weeks, the UP police on Wednesday claimed that all the four are innocent and were falsely implicated following an FIR lodged by Yogesh Raj, a senior Bajrang Dal leader and a key suspect in the mob violence and Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh’s killing.
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Sajid and three others were arrested 17 days ago and according to reports say their families are also suffering. The family are financially in debt and struggling to survive.
According to Sabir, Sajid’s father, more than a decade ago, his family had left Siyana village of Bulandshahr. The Indian Express quoted Sabir as saying, “We kept on saying that he (Sajid) wasn’t even present during the killings. The police did not pay heed. I have spent more than Rs 50,000 in the last two weeks on food, lodging and transport to visit the jail and police station multiple times. Even today, my cousin had to borrow Rs 800 on my behalf to sponsor the visit. This entire ordeal has set us back by six months. Our businesses have stopped.”
Two minors aged 11 and 12 were among seven Muslims named in the FIR. They were also kept at the police station for a few hours before being released.
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The innocence of the four men was established after the SIT picked up three more people Kala, Nadeem and Raees on Tuesday who was involved in alleged cow slaughter in Mahaw village.
The violence had broken out after alleged recovery of some animal carcasses dumped by them resulting in the death of Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and Sumit.
Singh was attacked by the mob when he attempted to clear the traffic snarl caused by the vigilantes carrying the carcasses on tractor trolleys blocking a busy road.
The Station House Officer of Syana, who had probed the lynching of a Muslim man in the Dadri killing in 2015, also over allegations of cow slaughter, was shot at point blank range by the mob.