Man lynched in MP for ‘bull slaughter’: ‘Can’t believe he could slaughter an animal, he was scared of blood’

Shahidunnisa at her home in Maihar on Sunday. (Photo by Milind Ghatwai)

“I cannot believe he could slaughter an animal because he was scared of blood. We never even performed qurbani on Eid because of his fear,” claimed Shahidunnisa, the wife of Siraj Khan who was lynched near Amgar village late on Thursday night. Siraj stitched clothes for a living and his wife too has picked up the skill. The couple and their four children moved to their small rented house in Purani Basti in Maihar only a month ago.

Before that, they stayed on rent in a part of a house belonging to a right wing Hindu outfit member Munna Lakher. “We had no problems there. In fact, the two families enjoyed a rapport,” said Shahidunnisa. Munna Lakher’s son Saurabh said, “He (Shiraj) was my father’s friend. He was a good man. I don’t think he could be involved in cattle slaughter.”

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The victim’s wife accused Shakeel of “misleading” Siraj into doing something he was not capable of. “How come he survived but my husband didn’t? He is unscrupulous. I don’t know what he did for a living but he had a lot of money,” she said. Shakeel, seriously injured in the assault, is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jabalpur. His wife is with him, but the other family members have fled the two-storey house, less than a kilometre from where Siraj’s family stays.