Ramgarh man carries ‘beef’, found dead three hours later
By: Chandrima Banerjee
TNN | Jun 21, 2018, 06.00 AM IST
Ramgarh: The death of a Muslim man under mysterious circumstances at Rajrappa on Tuesday could rake up yet another
controversy over beef in Ramgarh.
Touhid Ansari (45), a resident of Karma village, allegedly met with an accident, after which meat, reported to be beef, fell out of
the dickey of his bike. A few hours later, he was found dead metres away from the site.
“Around 9am, a bike met with an accident. Three hours later, we received information that a body had been found,” officer incharge
of Rajrappa police station Sachida Prasad Singh told TOI.
The body was identified by Touhid’s family, who came across gruesome images of the body on social media and got in touch
with police.
Touhid’s father Khalil lodged an FIR at the Rajrappa police station on Tuesday night, saying that his son had died after he was
“mercilessly beaten up”. The family alleged the body bore severe bruises and even acid burns. Touhid is survived by his wife,
two daughters and a son. His family said he used to do odd jobs for a living and suffered from facial paralysis.
Asked how the events played out, Singh said, “Our investigation indicates that the two incidents are separate and unrelated.”
However, in the FIR, Khalil mentioned the registration number of the bike Touhid was on and it was the same as that of the bike
the police had confiscated from the accident spot.
Singh added the bike belonged to one Mohd Hamid. Touhid’s family said the bike’s ownership had been transferred to Touhid
in an agreement.
Refusing to comment on whether Touhid was lynched, Ramgarh subdivisional officer Radha Prem Kishore said: “The
postmortem report should be ready by Thursday. The vehicle with which the bike had an accident has not been traced yet.”
The endless redirections over the matter could have to do with the fact that the bike was carrying “illegal meat”. Police have
not denied that meat was seized, but said they were waiting for the forensic laboratory reports to determine if it indeed was
beef, which is banned in Jharkhand. “The meat that was seized has been sent to the forensic laboratory, reports of which will
take time to come in,” Kishore said.
“A pickup van rammed into a bike and about 15-20 bags of meat fell out of the bike’s dickey. The man was unhurt, but clearly
alarmed. He made a run for it,” said Tularam Mahato, a resident of the area in which the accident took place. “Later, we heard a
man had been killed. Maybe he was killed by people trying to hush up news about illegal meat being sold,” he added.
The possibility was not ruled out by Touhid’s family either. “The death of my brother Touhid Ansari is one of conspiracy. If the
bike was hit by a vehicle, shouldn’t the police try and trace it? I think his murder was pre-planned, that he was allowed to leave
the site of the accident and then killed. His body was dumped in broad daylight. Given the atmosphere now, we think he might
have been lynched,” his brother Naushad Alam Ansari said.
A year ago, on June 29, Alimuddin Ansari was lynched by cow vigilantes who intercepted his van, in which he was carrying
beef.
For former Ramgarh legislator from BJP Shankar Chaudhary, the greater crime was that “illegal meat” is still being sold. “When
beef is banned, it is the duty of police personnel to see that it is enforced. But cows are being slaughtered every day. That can’t
happen without police being in on it. In this case, the man ran away after beef fell out. If the meat was not beef, why would he
run away?” he said
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