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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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
