Dadri lynching case accused seen sitting in front row at BJP rally

U.P. CM campaigns for Mahesh Sharma, says Bishara village incident never happened. On September 28, 2015, Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched in the village near Dadri.

Vishal Singh (second from right), who is one of the accused in the Dadri lynching case said they were falsely implicated.

The accused in the Dadri lynching case were seen sitting in the front row of a BJP rally addressed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Bishahra village of Dadri area on Sunday.

Mr. Adityanath was campaigning for Union Minister and BJP candidate Mahesh Sharma who is contesting from Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh.

On September 28, 2015, 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched in Bishahra village near Dadri for allegedly eating beef during Eid and storing it for later consumption.

‘Falsely implicated’

Vishal Singh, one of the prime accused in the case, who was seen sitting in the front with other accused in the case, said they had been falsely implicated in the case. He also said “nothing will happen now,” since they are out on bail, he smiled.

In the chargesheet filed by the police, Vishal Singh was accused of making an announcement from a local temple that Akhlaq had consumed beef and was storing it in his house. All 17 accused in the case are out on bail.

Addressing a rally at a ground in Bishahra village, Mr. Adityanath said everyone now knew what happened in Bishahra. “How shamelessly the Samajwadi government suppressed the emotions of the villagers. I can proudly say that after the BJP formed the government in U.P., we immediately ordered shutdown of all unauthorised slaughter houses in the State.” He said Bishahra actually never happened.

“People in Western U.P. are living a peaceful life under BJP rule because impossible is now possible because of Modi,” he said.

Mr. Adityanath appealed to Bishahra voters to vote for Mr. Sharma because being a Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, he had developed temples all over the country and helped to establish Hindu culture. “After the Jewar airport gets operational, western U.P. will get one lakh jobs,” he said.

He said the Congress ruled the country for the maximum years post-independence. The Samajwadi and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ruled U.P. several times but they focused on ‘development’ of their family members. But after Narendra Modi took over on May 26, 2014 as PM, the “political dynamics changed for ever.”

Bishahra is a Rajput-dominated village with around 3,000 votes.

Published - March 31, 2019 02:05 pm IST