A Muslim cloth vendor, who was assaulted by a mob that allegedly targeted him after asking his religious identity, died of his injuries in Bihar’s Nawada district on Friday night, The Indian Express reported.

Mohammad Athar Hussain, a resident of Gagan Diwan village, sold clothes on a bicycle. The assault took place on December 5 near Bhattapar village under Roh police station when Hussain was returning home and stopped to look for a puncture repair shop after his bicycle broke down, the newspaper reported.

According to his brother, Mohammad Shakib Alam, Hussain was intercepted by a group of villagers who asked his name and profession before attacking him.

“They assaulted him, cut his ears, beat him with a heated rod,” Alam told The Indian Express.

In a video recorded after the incident, Hussain said that the assailants first asked his name, pulled him off his bicycle, robbed him of Rs 18,000 and assaulted him. He said the group later grew to about 15-20 people.

He also alleged that the mob had “stripped him to check his private parts and branded his body with a heated iron rod”.

Hussain was first taken to a primary health centre in Roh and then referred to Nawada Sadar Hospital before being shifted to Pawapuri VIMS, where he succumbed to his...

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