The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has termed the lynching of a Muslim man in Dadri as "pre-meditated" instead of an "accident" as many people have claimed.
The NCM had sent a three-member team led by its chairman Naseem Ahmad to Bishada village near Dadri where Mohammed Akhlaq was killed by a mob over beef-eating rumour, on 15 October. They interacted with the victim's family members, neighbours and the authorities concerned.
"The team feels that a large crowd appearing within minutes of an announcement from temple's loudspeaker and at a time when most villagers claimed they were asleep seems to point to some pre-meditated planning.
"The facts as reported to the NCM team, point strongly that the whole episode was the result of a plan in which a sacred place like temple was used for exhorting people of one community to attack a hapless family," the NCM report said.
With making any specific reference, the commission termed the comments by politicians after the 28 September incident as "disturbing".
The statements were made by union minister Mahesh Sharma and some other BJP leaders.
The NCM report has stated that people were provoked by spreading a rumour of a cow being slaughtered. However, the instant response by the police stopped the situation from escalating further.
The family members of deceased Akhlaq told the NCM that there was no tension between them and other villagers before the incident.
"They claimed that the attack was sudden and vicious and that the men were particularly and brutally targeted. But women were also assaulted and injured. They were however all praise for the help provided by the administration," the report said.
Ahmad said that at this time, providing security to Muslim families in the village is of paramount importance and "all efforts have to be made to expedite police investigation so that the guilty are brought to book quickly."
He also emphasised that all assistance, be it legal, material or emotional, has to be provided to the victim's family.
On 28 September, a 200-strong mob had beaten Akhlaq to death and left his 22-year-old son critically injured following rumours that the family had consumed and stored beef.
The incident sparked an outrage across the country.
