Jharkhand : Muslim dairy owner beaten up, house set on fire on suspicion of cow slaughter

A Muslim dairy owner was critically wounded and his house set on fire by a mob in a Jharkhand village after a headless carcass of a cow was found near his home, police said.

Thirty police personnel were injured as a frenzied crowd of around 1,000, including some self-appointed cow protectors, laid siege to 55-year-old Usman Ansari's house in Giridih district's Bariabad on Tuesday afternoon.

"Police had to resort to lathi-charge and air firing to quell the mob so that the victim and his family could be saved," Giridih



superintendent of police Akhilesh B Variar said on Wednesday, adding around 25 people were detained.

Ansari was being treated in a hospital and his family moved to a safer location under police protection.

North Chhotanagpur zone DIG Bhim Sen Tuti reached Giridih on Wednesday as hundreds of police and Central Reserve Police Force personnel were rushed to the area.

The incident is the latest in a string of attacks, largely against Muslim and Dalits, reported from across the country in the name of cow protection.