Moradabad lynching over ‘cattle slaughter’: Victim’s associate held

“We took suo motu cognisance and registered an FIR against Qureshi and Mohammad Adnan (29) for cow slaughter,” said Majhola Station House Officer Mohit Chaudhary.

Chaudhary said Adnan had fled the spot after locals found them slaughtering an ox in the early hours of December 30.

Qureshi was admitted to the Moradabad district hospital with critical injuries. He succumbed to his injuries at 4.30 pm on Monday, police said.

“As of now we have not been able to arrest anybody (in the case of Qureshi’s killing),” said Additional Superintendent of Police Kumar Ran Vijay Singh. Another police officer said they had collected video footage and were working to identify those involved in the assault.

Singh claimed that Adnan admitted to killing an ox during interrogation. Qureshi’s wife, Rizwana, 35, said that Qureshi had left early on Monday.

“I am a heart patient. I woke up at 2 am to take my medicine as usual. At 3 am, my husband got ready to head out. He told me that he was going for some work and would be back soon so I went back to sleep,” she recalled.

Two hours later, she started calling her husband, but got no answer. “After an hour, someone called me back from his phone and informed me that they had found this phone at Majhola Mandi,” she said.

At around 11 am, she said, the police reached their home and informed the family that Qureshi was admitted to the hospital.

“When we reached the hospital, he was bleeding from his nose, his left eye was swollen and he was gasping for breath,” said Masooma Jamal, 43, Qureshi’s sister-in-law. Jamal said they took him to a private hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival.

“This was no age to die. Is the value of human life so less today? Even if he killed an animal, they could have called the police. He could have been in jail, but why did people beat him up so badly that he died,” asked Jamal.

“Who will look after me? My children are so young, my in-laws are dead, where will I go?” said Rizwana.

Family members said Qureshi made a living by transporting goods on rented hand carts. They said he had to pause his work six months ago owing to health issues, forcing his sons aged 14 and 15 to take up tailoring work. Rizwana and Qureshi also have a 10-year-old daughter.