Representative image.

RANCHI| DUMKA: In yet another incident of cow vigilantism, a mob lynched two Muslim men on suspicion of being involved in cattle theft at a village in Jharkhand ’s Godda district early Wednesday morning.

A video showing one of the victims, with injury marks on his head, slung over a bamboo pole and being dragged on the ground went viral on social media.

The victims have been identified by cops as Jirafuddin Ansari (35) and Murtaza Miyan (30) from Taljhari village in Godda, about 300km from Ranchi.

Godda SP Rajiv Ranjan Singh said, “The victims had previous criminal cases of cattle theft registered against them.” Bodies of the victims were handed over to their families following postmortem, he added.

Four persons were arrested in connection with the lynching and an FIR was registered against unidentified persons for stealing buffaloes, police said.

Five people had gone to Dhulu village in the district to steal buffaloes, and as they entered nearby Bankatti village they were caught by villagers armed with bows and arrows, Singh said. While three of them managed to flee, the two were surrounded and lynched by the villagers.

Godda MLA Pradeep Yadav of JMM said, “There is resentment among villagers about cattle thefts in the area. I am collecting reports about the incident.” In March, a fast-track court in Ramgarh sentenced 11 cow vigilantes, including a BJP leader, for the lynching of a Muslim man, identified as Alimuddin Ansari, on suspicion that he was carrying beef in his car in 2017.

