Buffalo meat, not beef: Forensic report confirms Aligarh attack victims were carrying legal meat
Aligarh: A report by forensic laboratory in Mathura has confirmed that the meat transported by the victims of a violent assault in Aligarh was buffalo meat, not the prohibited beef, as suspected by cow vigilantes.
“We have received the report of the laboratory that confirms that the sample of meat sent for testing came from a buffalo. Our seniors will decide the future course of action,” The Telegraph quoted Aligarh police inspector Dheeraj Kumar as saying.
The assault took place at Alahdadapur in Harduaganj, where the four men were attacked by a mob of cow vigilantes who suspected them of carrying beef. The victims, who were meat transporters, were allegedly beaten with iron rods after they refused to pay Rs 50,000 to the attackers.
One of the victims, Mohammad Aqueel, spoke to reporters from the hospital, describing the ordeal. He averred that they had the necessary documents to prove that they were transporting buffalo meat from the Al Ammar factory in Rorawar to a market in Aligarh.
“The attackers demanded Rs 50,000 from us and began beating us with iron rods when we refused. They kept beating us. The police came twice, saw us in a pool of blood, and left. A cop punched me, too. Later, senior officers came and took us to the hospital, where some staff misbehaved with us and cursed us for killing cows,” The Telegraph quoted Aqueel as saying.
The police rescued the victims, Mohammad Arbaz, Mohammad Qadir, Mohammad Aqueel, and one other person, and admitted them to the district hospital, later shifting them to Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital due to the severity of their injuries.
Three individuals, identified as Vijay Bajrangi, Vijay Gupta, and Lavkush Bajrangi, were arrested in connection with the attack on Sunday. However, Aqueel claimed that the police also filed charges against them for transporting illegal meat and for causing a law and order disturbance.
“The police have also booked us for transporting (illegal) meat and creating law and order issues. We want them to withdraw the case against us,” Aqueel added
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
