Nagpur BJP man attacked by cow vigilantes was carrying beef, say police

Four days after a man was thrashed by alleged cow vigilantes in Maharashtra's Nagpur district, the police have said that the meat seized from him was beef.

The victim of the cow vigilantism is a BJP member, identified as Salim Shaha, who was brutally beaten up by a group of alleged cow vigilantes.

The police said the meat had been sent to a forensic laboratory to be tested. The lab report identified it as beef, Superintendent of Police (Nagpur rural) Shailesh Balkawde told PTI.

The police said it would initiate action against 34- year-old Salim Shaha, a member of the BJPs Katol unit, in accordance with the law.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Shaha, a resident of Katol town, was returning home on his motorcycle when a group of five or six men accosted him at a bus stop in the Bharsingi village on July 12. They allegedly assaulted him on the suspicion that he was carrying beef.

Shahas family, however, said he may not have known what he was carrying. The family was initially reluctant to talk about the forensic report, stating that the family was already "in trouble".

But "Salim may not have been aware of what he was carrying," a relative said. The Nagpur (rural) unit president of the BJP, Rajiv Potdar, said Shaha would be dismissed from the party.

After Shaha was beaten up and taken to a hospital, four men - Ashwin Uike (35), Rameshwar Taywade (42), Moreshwar Tandurkar (36) and Jagdish Chaudhari (25) - were arrested and booked under IPC section 326, pertaining to voluntarily causing grievous hurt.

(With PTI inputs)

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