On the night of September 28, a mob of indeterminate size, with a predetermined target, barged inside the house of Mohammad Akhlaq. The loudspeakers of the temple at Bisada village in Dadri tehsil of Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddha Nagar heralded their arrival. The priest had declared that a calf had been slaughtered in the village, and that Akhlaq and his family were eating beef. The narrow lane that led to the house was full of bloodthirsty men, at least 500 by conservative accounts.