Suspected to be cow thieves, two youths lynched in Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district

The victim were travelling on a pickup van through the village at night. The van had seven cows in it. The van somehow lost its way and kept circling the area. Alerted by the noise of the van, the villagers tried to stop it, but the vehicle sped off.

Later locals blocked the road and forced the van to stop. Two of the passengers were caught by villagers while the driver of the van managed to flee.

Villagers then questioned the two for some time and then lynched them on suspicion of being cattle thieves. The victims have been identified as Hafizul Sheikh of Dhubri in Assam and Anwar Hussain of Patlahawa in Coochbehar.

Later police recovered the bodies and rushed them to a local hospital. But they were declared brought dead.

According to the police, it is not confirmed that the victim’s were cow thieves or cattle traders who bought the cattle from a market in the area.