Cow slaughter issue being misused to ‘communalise’ our image, says Tauseef Ahmad.

Mohammad Haseeb, the elder brother of Indian pacer Mohammad Shami, had no idea that his curiosity will land him in jail. Last Thursday when there was some noise in his vicinity, he went to find out what the buzz was about. At the end of that day, he was arrested by the Amroha police on charges of "forcing" the cops to release few men who were allegedly detained on charges of cow slaughter. He was later released on bail.

Haseeb says the charges as "fabricated" and his father Tauseef Ahmad alleged that the issue of cow slaughter was being misused to "target" his family.

Mr. Ahmad claimed witch hunting in the name of "cow slaughter" even as a >Muslim couple was allegedly harassed in Madhya Pradesh over a clash concerning beef on Friday.

Going by Haseeb's version, it is a case which the local police registered under the influence of a group with interest in dragging his family in controversy.

"I had gone there to find out what was going on. I went there much later when the police had already arrived to apparently arrest some alleged cow slaughterers. Later I was told, much to my shock, that I had fought with the police and released those allegedly involved in cow slaughter," Haseeb told The Hindu on phone from Amroha.

Haseeb's father said that his family was the target of conspiracies since his son Mohammad Shami started playing for India.

"This is a completely false allegation. The issue of cow slaughter is very sensitive and emotional issue which is being used to unnecessarily target us. Since the time Shami started playing for India there is a group of people who want to drag our family in controversy or the other by hook or crook," Mr. Tauseef told The Hindu on phone from Amroha.

He said that the cow slaughter allegation was created to finish the goodwill his family enjoys locally and "communalise" their image.

"The cow controversy is in the news. Those who don't want a family from our background to enjoy the large scale goodwill people have towards us, finally thought of using the issue of cow slaughter thinking it would work," he added.

He mentioned that he had complained to the District Magistrate of Amroha last month regarding attempt of people to target his family.

Despite being asked about people who he thought wanted to target his family, Mr. Tauseef did not reveal any name.

Ved Prakash, the district magistrate of Amroha confirmed that Mr. Tauseef had met him a month ago to complain about threats to his family. "He had met me last month with a complain that he was being threatened on phone by somebody. But he did not tell me who it was," he added.

According to the FIR against Haseeb, he was involved into a scuffle with local police personnel when they were taking an alleged cow slaughterer Mohammad Rizwan in a police vehicle.

Praveen Kumar, the Station house office of Didoli police station in Amroha told The Hindu on phone that Haseeb allegedly stopped the vehicle which was taking the culprit to jail.

"Because of the fight with Haseeb, the culprit fled from the scene. Then we arrested Haseeb and filed a case against him under section 147 (rioting), 153 (promoting enmity between different groups), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code," he told The Hindu.