Dadri case: New forensic report says meat found in Ikhlaq’s home was beef

The new test contradicts an earlier report that said the meat found in the victim's fridge was mutton.

New Delhi:

In a new twist to the Dadri lynching case, a freshly conducted forensic test has revealed that the meat found in 50-year-old Mohammad Ikhlaq’s home was beef. This test contradicts an earlier report that said the meat found in his fridge was mutton.

According to reports, the new forensic test was conducted at a laboratory in Mathura after police sent it samples of the meat found in Ikhlaq’s freezer. The Mathura forensic lab report states that the meat sample recovered from victim's house belongs to ‘cow or it's progeny’.

However, last year, in December, reports said that the sample was from a ‘goat progeny’. A veterinary officer in his report said, -"Prima facie it seems that meat found in Dadri lynching victim's house belongs to goat progeny.-"

On September 28, a crowd of around 200 persons, largely youngsters, attacked the house of Ikhlaq, a resident of the Bisada village in UP after rumours were spread in the village that a cow has been slaughtered and beef was stored in his house.

The victim's relatives had claimed that only goat meat had been kept in the house and an announcement made in a local temple that a cow has been slaughtered led to the violence by the mob.

While the slaughter of beef is illegal in Uttar Pradesh, the consumption of the same is not banned.

The incident drew sharp condemnation from parties across the country and led to widespread outrage. The matter even reached the doors of United Nation, with UP minister Mohd Azam Khan writing a letter to the secretary general of the UN last year, asking him to impress upon the Union government of India to stick to international agreement and allow secularism and plurality to flourish in the country.

(This story originally appeared on Deccan Chronicle)