A 35-year-old Dalit man was beaten to death by a mob in Odisha’s Deogarh district on Wednesday after being accused of killing a cow, police said.
The victim, identified as Kishore Chamar from Kaunsidhipa village, worked as a cattle skinner. His coworker, Goutam Nayak, was also attacked but managed to escape with injuries.
Deogarh Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar Mishra told PTI, “The mob found the two men cutting up a cow. The victims said the cow had died naturally and they were only skinning it, but the crowd accused them of killing the animal.”
Six people have been arrested in connection with the incident, which took place in Kundeijuri village under Riamal police station.
This case comes just two months after another assault in Ganjam district, where two Dalit me, Babula Nayak (54) and Bulu Nayak (42), were attacked and humiliated by cow vigilantes. They were accused of smuggling cattle, forced to crawl, tonsured, and even made to eat grass when they refused to pay Rs 30,000.
