Uttar Pradesh: Children of alleged bovine smuggler stir row on his death, accuse police of murder

By Express News Service
LUCKNOW: Children of a man who died recently in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahar district said that their father was thrown down from the rooftop of their house by the local police, which led to his death few days later. 

According to the police, Aqeel Qureshi was wanted in connection with cases of buffalo theft and cow slaughter. “A team of cops came to our house around 1 am. After beating him (father) up with lathis and rifle buts, they threw him down from the rooftop,” two daughters and a son (all minors) of Qureshi alleged.

“After entering the house,  they caught hold of my father and assaulted him with rifle buts in the head and lathis on other parts of the body before throwing him down from the rooftop,” the eldest of three children alleged in a video that has gone viral on social media.

“They (cops) abused my father verbally after throwing him down to the  ground. We want justice for our father and the entire family,” the three children said on Saturday. A probe has meanwhile been ordered into the incident. (Bulandshahar Rural) SP Harendra Kumar is conducting the probe. “We’re recording the statements of all concerned,” Kumar told The New Indian Express.

“The man, Aqeel Qureshi, aged around 42 years, was accused in six criminal cases, including four cases of cow slaughter. He was also wanted in connection with a buffalo theft case from October, last year. Coming to know about his presence at the house, the local police went there on the night of May 23 to detain him. But his wife told the police that he wasn’t there,” he said.

The senior police officer further said though the cops then left the house. But Aqeel, fearing that the cops would return, tried to escape. In the process, he fell down from the terrace. “His neighbours say that he has done such acts in the past too,” Kumar said.

The officer said that Aqeel’s family rushed him to a hospital in Bulandshahar. He was admitted there under the name Rehan. He was later referred to Aligarh Medical College, and subsequently, to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, where he died.