32 year old Muslim youth in Godhra, Qasim Abdullah Hayat who was arrested on charges of transporting beef, found dead on Thursday inside the Godhra B Division police station lock-up, reports Indian Express.
Panchmahals district police said Qasim Abdullah Hayat was yet to be produced before a magistrate.
Hayat was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly transporting cow meat, which is prohibited in Gujarat, to deliver to his local customers — five women — who have also been booked.
Police claimed that the final moment of Hayat from Thursday early morning was captured in the CCTV footage of the police station.
According to IE report, Hayat’s family has demanded a probe into the incident.
“We have the CCTV footage. It was a partial hanging. We have initiated the medical procedures, accordingly to prepare a report,” Superintendent of Police, Panchmahal district, Leena Patil told IE.
On September 14, received a tip-off that the accused was riding a white two-wheeler from Sevaliya to Godhra with cow beef in the luggage compartment.
The FIR states, “It (the two-wheeler) had a plastic bag hanging in the front, which was opened in presence of the panch witness. The bag contained the meat of a slaughtered animal that could not be identified. When the man riding the two-wheeler was asked to identify himself, he said his name was Qasim Abdullah Hayat, a resident of Idgah Mohalla in Godhra. He confirmed that he was the owner of the two-wheeler. The luggage compartment of the two-wheeler also had more meat, including portions of limbs and a tongue.”
The accused have been booked under the Indian Penal Code Section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle), the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 Section 11 (treating animals cruelly), and under the Gujarat Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, 2017
The FIR states that the accused told the police that it was mutton that he had procured from a butcher named Abdul Kader Qureshi from Sevaliya and was to be delivered to five persons in Idgah Mohalla, named Tahera Hanif Pital, Madina Itara, Sakoora Hayat, Safiya Vadhel, and Munni Farooq Pital.
The five women customers, who had placed orders with Hayat for the meat delivery as well as the butcher in Sevaliya, have also been booked as accused.
(This is a developing story)
