Ranchi, June 21: In a shocking incident, a 45-year old Muslim man was beaten to death under mysterious circumstances over beef rumours in Jharkhand’s Rajrappa area on Wednesday. According to a report by TOI, the man, identified as Touhid Ansari, a resident of Karma village was lynched after meat, reported to be beef, fell out of the dickey of his motorcycle. Reports inform that Touhid is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.

The report further informs that he was found dead just metres from the accident site a few hours after. Sachida Prasad Singh, the officer in charge of Rajrappa police station, told TOI that around 9 am, a bike met with an accident and three hours later, the Police received information that a body had been found.  Reports inform that the victim’s family identified the body after gruesome images of the body went viral on social media and got in touch with police. The family alleged that Touhid’s body had bruises and even acid burns.

Touhid’s father, however, lodged a FIR at Rajrappa police station on Tuesday night saying his son had died after he was mercilessly beaten up. According to details by Police, the victim’s father in the FIR mentioned the registration number of the bike Touhid was on and it was the same as that of the bike the police had confiscated from the accident spot.

Ramgarh subdivisional officer Radha Prem Kishore was quoted by TOI saying that the post-mortem report should be ready by Thursday and then it can be ascertained whether Touhid was lynched. Meanwhile, the police is also waiting for forensic laboratory reports to determine if it indeed was beef, which is banned in Jharkhand.

A resident of the area informed that a pickup van rammed into a bike and 15-20 bags of meat fell out of the bike’s dickey. He said, later it was heard that the man was killed. Residents believe that maybe he was killed by people trying to hush up news about illegal meat being sold.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 21, 2018 10:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).