Mob kills Muslim farmer for ‘eating beef’

Indian police arrested eight people and were searching for two more after villagers allegedly beat a Muslim farmer to death and severely injured his son on hearing rumours that the family was eating beef, a taboo for many among India’s majority Hindu population.

The mob of about 60 Hindus became incensed when a temple announced that the family had been slaughtering cows and storing the beef in their house in Bisara, a village about 45km southeast of the capital New Delhi, District Magistrate Nagendra Pratap Singh said.

He said the mob dragged 52-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq and his son from their home and beat them with sticks and bricks.