Mob Killing 'Pre-Planned,' Says Asaduddin Owaisi, Attacks PM for 'Silence'

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief met the family of Mohammad Ikhlaq this morning.

Dadri, Uttar Pradesh:  Amid outrage over the mob killing of a 50-year-old man in Uttar Pradesh allegedly over rumours that he had eaten beef, politician Asaduddin Owaisi today visited his family and claimed that he was “targeted for his religion.”

Mr Owaisi, who heads the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), met the family of Mohammad Ikhlaq this morning and hit out at the Samajwadi Party government for “investigating a piece of meat and treating the victim as accused”.

“This wasn’t an attack over meat. He has been killed in the name of religion. This is a pre-planned, cold-blooded killing. It cannot be an accident. This is the thought which is against secularism, it is against the brotherhood of India. It sees Muslims with an eye of suspicion,” the Hyderabad MP said.

The AIMIM leader also hit out at Union Minister and local MP Mahesh Sharma who had termed the attack as an “accident”.

“Mahesh Sharma is the Culture Minister of the country and it is unfortunate that he doesn’t have the courage and honesty to condemn the incident unconditionally,” he said.

Attacking PM Narenda Modi, he said, “… we were expecting the PM would have at least sent condolences to Sartaj (victim’s son) and condemned it. We were expecting that the PM who says ‘sabka saath sabka vikaas’ should have condoled at least with a tweet.”

Mr Sharma met the family of the victim in Dadri today. “The issue shouldn’t be politicized,” he said.

50-year-old Mohammad Ikhlaq was beaten to death by a mob in Dadri on the outskirts of Delhi on Monday night. He and his 22-year-old son were dragged from their house by around 100 villagers and beaten with bricks. Ikhlaq’s son is critical.

Half an hour before the attack, an announcement was allegedly made at a temple nearby that a calf had been slaughtered and its carcass had been found near a transformer.

No names were taken in the announcement, but there are only two Muslim families in the area and the other family was out.

Killing cows is illegal in Uttar Pradesh.

The police are investigating who started the rumours in a part of western Uttar Pradesh that is prone to trouble at the slightest provocation.