New Delhi: A 55-year-old truck driver was lynched in Bihar’s Saran district on the suspicions that his freight of cattle bones, used as raw material for making capsules for medicines, was beef because Id ul Zoha was hours away.
The deceased was identified as Muhammad Zahiruddin, who was a resident of Majhwalia village in the same district. Seven persons have been arrested so far.
When Zahiruddin’s truck reached Khori Pakar village on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, the truck developed some issues. Zahiruddin then halted the vehicle and was looking for a mechanic nearby along with his helper, Khurshid Ali. The strong smell which emanated from the truck led to suspicion among locals that the truck was transporting beef. While Ali managed to escape, Zahiruddin was fatally assaulted by the villagers, police said, according to Indian Express.
Zahiruddin could not run away because he had fractured one of his legs a few years ago and undergone surgery for the insertion of a stainless steel rod, Telegraph reported.
He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was declared brought dead. Doctors suspected internal injury to be the primary cause of death.
“Zahiruddin had been carrying bones to a licenced Marhaura factory using bones for medicinal purposes. It was a usual thing,” IE report quoted Saran superintendent of police Gaurav Mangla as saying.
“We promptly took action and arrested seven villagers in this connection.”
Muhammad Haider, the owner of the factory to which Zahiruddin was transporting the freight, alleged that the lynching took place in front of some police personnel from Jalalpur police station who had reached there.
“The helper told us that the mob attacked Zahiruddin as it was Id and they suspected he was transporting beef. However, he was transporting dry animal bones for my industrial unit, which has been operating here since the time of my grandfather,” Haider told reporters.
“My factory is a legal one. The bones go into the making of ingredients used in medicines. The ingredients are sent to pharmaceutical companies,” Haider added.
Cattle bones are used to make gelatine for the pharmaceutical industry. Gelatine is used to make capsules and in cosmetics, health supplements and some medicinal products, the Telegraph report said.
This article was first published by TheWire
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