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Two suspected cow thieves were lynched in Assam’s Nagaon district on Sunday.
The incident raised concerns about self-styled gau rakshaks being involved but the Nagaon superintendent of police, Devraj Upadhyay told the Telegraph there was no communal angle involved in the incident.
Meanwhile, the state spokesperson of the RSS added that there were no gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes in Assam.
The state’s organising secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Maulana Kalimuddin too said he was not aware of gau rakshaks being active in Assam.
Beef is not banned in this north-eastern state.
The lynched suspects were identified by the police as Riajuddin and Abu Hanufa. "They were caught in Kachamari village (around 3km from Nagaon town) while allegedly taking away a bull from the grazing area. It was only about a month ago that the two had been caught by villagers while trying to steal goats. They were fined Rs 5,000 by the villagers then. Today, the villagers chased them for over 2 kms before catching them," Upadhyay told the Telegraph.
On coming to hear of the incident, the police reached the spot and rushed the suspects to Nagaon hospital where they breathed their last.
More than 100 suspected cattle thieves have been arrested in Nagaon district, around 120km from Guwahati, over the past three months alone, Upadhyay said.
The stolen cattle are reportedly smuggled across the border to Bangladesh.