Akhtar Ansari, 32, a resident of Katamkuli in Ranchi, Jharkhand, was allegedly lynched by a mob over an accusation of goat stealing at Tatisilwai in the early hours of Sunday.

“My uncle (Akhtar Ansari) used to do civil works in under-construction houses and had gone out on Saturday evening. Around 2.30am (Sunday), I received a call from an unknown number and heard my uncle’s choked voice informing me that he was being beaten by a mob between Namkum and Tatisilwai and they were threatening to kill him. Then an unknown voice said that they were going to kill my uncle and the phone was cut off,” said Irshan Ansari, who lodged a police complaint at Tatisilwai police station.

Irshad further claimed that they immediately called the Namkum police station and informed them about the phone number from which the call came.

“We received a call from Tatisilwai thana around 6.30am informing us that an unknown body had been found. We recognised the body as our uncle,” said Irshad.

The police said that Akhtar was beaten up by locals for stealing goats, according to Irshad.

“My uncle was the sole breadwinner of the family (wife and four children) and had no criminal history. We do not believe that he could have gone so far (over 37km from Pithoria to Tatisilwai) to steal a goat,” Irshad claimed.

“We have nabbed the two main accused, Ved Vyas Mahato and Ajit Kumar Mahato, and are continuing raids to identify other culprits involved in the incident. Based on our investigation, it has come to our knowledge that the victim, along with two others, were stealing goats in the locality and were chased by the locals. While the two managed to escape, the victim fell down and was assaulted by the locals,” said Manoj Kumar, Tatisilwal officer-in-charge.

Jharkhand was the fourth state after Bengal, Manipur and Rajasthan to pass a bill against mob lynching in December 2021.

Since the passing of the act, a youth has been torched to death for tree felling in Simdega by villagers in January 2022, while a youth was lynched in a group clash in Hazaribagh in February 2022. A forest committee member was also lynched in May 2022 for resisting tree felling, three women were lynched near Ranchi in September 2022 on suspicions of witchcraft, a youth was lynched in Gumla on an allegation of stealing goats in October 2022 and a middle-aged resident of Gomia in Bokaro, identified as Imran Ansari, was beaten to death in the same month for having an illicit affair with a married woman.

In January 2023, a middle-aged person with alleged criminal antecedents was beaten to death on an allegation of “goat theft” at a village in Giridih district and a 20-year-old Wajid Ansari in Chanho block of Ranchi was allegedly beaten up for stealing and died subsequently after being admitted in a hospital in Ranchi in April 2023.