‘We demolished homes where beef was found’: Inside the MP village where bulldozers came a day after police

“We demolished the homes where beef was found and left the others alone for now. Which homes to demolish is not part of our protocol. It is decided by the revenue department. We were taking action against cattle smugglers. Leather companies in Jabalpur which bought animal hides and local tribal people who bought cow meat from this gang will be investigated. The NSA will be invoked against five accused who are repeat offenders,” said Inder Baldev, SHO of Nainpur police station.

All the homes belong to members of the Qureshi community. One person has been arrested, while 10 are absconding.

Mandla District Collector Saloni Sidana told The Indian Express that authorities “have not targeted specific homes”. “The local administration has been serving notices to residents of this village since 2022. It is very difficult for the authorities to operate here. In 2016, a policeman serving a warrant in this village was beaten to death. We managed to remove the illegal structures only after residents fled (during the police crackdown). This area was earmarked as semi-forest land for cattle grazing and it was illegally occupied,” she said.

The demolitions in tribal-majority Mandla district. (Express Photo)

Asked why 16 homes adjacent to the demolished ones were spared, she said, “We did not demolish the other homes as there were constraints — it was Eid and given the sensitivity, we left them. We will take action against all illegal structures in this village soon. This exercise is being carried across the district and we have demolished 32 structures in the last one month.”

The police raids follow a freak accident four days prior, when a dhaba owner in Dithori village, on the outskirts of Mandla, spotted a cow being dragged by a rope attached to a white Bolero pickup, at around 9 am.

The demolitions in tribal-majority Mandla district. (Express photo by Anand Mohan J)

Some locals intercepted the truck and questioned the two occupants, Sev Prasad Dhuvre and Bhainswahi resident Salim Qureshi. The police recovered five cows, including one that died later, leading to protests by local outfits.

This case led the police to Bhainswahi, which already has a history of violence linked to cattle smuggling. At Nainpur police station here lies a bust of constable Kamla Prasad Yadav, who was killed while serving an arrest warrant in a cattle smuggling case. So far this year, 12 cases of cattle smuggling have been registered at this station.

Said a woman officer who was part of the raids, “We cleaned up that village and residents can finally rest easy.”

The demolitions in tribal-majority Mandla district. (Express photo by Anand Mohan J)

Bainswahi village has around 1,100 residents comprising tribal and Muslim communities. There are around 80 Muslim households across the village. On July 14, around 27 homes, allegedly on 15,000 square feet of government land, were raided by a heavy police contingent, turning the settlement into towering piles of rubble and debris. Many brick homes had come up over the past two years, though some were decades old.

According to the FIR in connection with the raids, an informer had tipped police that one Adil Qureshi was behind a cow slaughter racket and had a large quantity of cow meat stored at his home along with live cows meant for slaughter. “We tried to arrest Adil but he gave us the slip. He was accused in a previous case as well. His whole family fled. We went with a large force and made a large recovery from each house,” the officer said.

The demolitions in tribal-majority Mandla district. (Express photo by Anand Mohan J)

Amidst the wreckage of the homes on Tuesday, personal belongings lay scattered — a bike that was a wedding gift, a fan, dry rations, and clothes.

Sultana Qureshi’s home, painted in bright blue, had been partially destroyed, with some walls still standing. She managed to save a small bed and her pet parrot. “We slept out in the open on Eid. Today it rained and we have three other women in the family who all have one set of clothes. We begged the local sarpanch for help. No one wants us to come to us. Everyone here fears their home is next in line for demolition,” she said.

Ashiya Qureshi was in Mandla when a frantic call from her daughter forced her to rush to the village. “I have two homes in this village and thought they would both be demolished. My home is also built on government land and I have been staying here for 25 years. If others’ homes are being destroyed, then so should mine. Only difference is that they claimed to find beef in other homes and not mine,” she said.

The homes were razed by authorities on June 15. (Express photo by Anand Mohan J)

Salman (27) could be seen trying to push a slab of concrete to retrieve his cousin’s wedding gifts from under the rubble. “We were never served notices. If we knew a demolition was going to happen, we would have saved all our belongings,” he claimed.

Occupants of the homes still left standing are tense. “My family was spared as nothing was found in our home even though this too is built on illegal land. I don’t want any trouble, so we are just keeping quiet. We hope this incident passes,” she said.

The homes were razed by authorities on June 15. (Express photo by Anand Mohan J)

Sameena Qureshi’s family, who have been living in the village for 30 years, had four of their homes demolished. “My husband stores chicken and lamb meat. He also collects skeletons of dead cows. But there was no cow meat. This is a false allegation,” she claimed.

Her extended family members turned up on Tuesday carrying boxes filled with food ration that can last them a few days.