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Controversial AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, who visited the family of the man killed here by a mob over rumours that they had consumed beef, today alleged that he was targeted for his religion and questioned the Prime Minister’s "silence".

Owaisi, who heads the Muslim right wing All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), met the wife of deceased Iqlakh this morning and alleged that it was pre-planned murder.

"This wasn’t an attack over meat. It was murder over religion to spread politics of hatred of a party. This is a pre-planned, cold-blooded killing. It cannot be an accident.

"This is the thought which is against secularism, it is against the brotherhood of India. It sees Muslims with an eye of suspicion," the Hyderabad MP said.

Owaisi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his "silence" on the issue, saying the he sholld have at least sent his condolences in a tweet if "he believes in pluralism and upholding of law".

"... we were expecting the PM would have at lease sent condolences to Sartaj (victim’s son) and condemned it. We were expecting that the PM who says ’sabka saath sabka vikaas’ should have condoled at least with a tweet."

The AIMIM leader also hit out at Union Minister and local MP Mahesh Sharma who had termed the attack as an "accident".

"Mahesh Sharma is the Culture Minister of the country and it is unfortunate that the minister who has taken oath on the Constitution doesn’t have the courage and intellectual honesty to condemn the incident unconditionally," Owaisi said.

"He and his PM say ’Sabka Saath Sabka Vikaas’, then such incidents happen. These words should be put into practice," he said.

He also hit out at the Samajwadi government, saying instead of nabbing the attackers it was "conducting forensic test on a piece of meat and treating the victim as accused".
"They have so much poison in their minds that a person who had died, rather than treating him as a victim, they are treating him as an accused," he said.
Owaisi demanded that the accused be charged with IPC section related to murder and a time-bound trial be held.

He said that he feared that Samajwadi Party government will let the accused go scot-free "as had happened after Muzaffarnagar riots".

Iqlakh was beaten to death and his 22-year-old son Danish was critically injured by a 200-strong mob which barged into their house on Monday night following rumours that the family had consumed beef. Cow slaughter is banned in Uttar Pradesh.