Two more people were arrested on Tuesday in connection with the death of three cattle transporters from Uttar Pradesh in Arang earlier this month.
With this, the total number of arrests in the case – that the victims’ families have alleged was an act of mob lynching – is now four. The police are yet to shed light on the events that led to the killings on June 7.
The two men arrested on Tuesday are Mahasamund residents (the incident took place on the Raipur-Mahasamund border) Navin Singh Thakur, and Mayank Sharma. Thakur works as a driver while the latter is a goods transporter, police said. Police arrested two others identified as Harsh Mishra and Raja Agarwal on June 22 and June 23 respectively.
On June 7 Saddam Qureshi 23, his cousins Guddu Khan 35, and Chand Miya Khan (23), were waylaid while transporting cattle from Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund to the state capital. They were attacked on the Mahanadi river bridge in Arang and assaulted by a mob.
The police found all three lying below the bridge. While two succumbed the same day, Saddam the lone surviving eye-witness succumbed to his wounds on June 18.
Additional Superintendent (Raipur Rural) Kirtan Rathore said that all the accused have been booked for culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304 of the IPC.
This story was originally published in thehindu.com.
