Police claim they have pieced together the Bulandshahr cattle killing case after arresting and questioning three accused
Lucknow: Two weeks after a police inspector and a student were killed in mob violence over alleged cow slaughter in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, police claim to have pieced together evidence of how the cattle were killed.
According to them, licensed guns, a car registered in Delhi and a chopper were used by a group of local men involved in the incident.
On Tuesday, the Bulandshahr police also arrested three suspects in the cow killing case. All are residents of Syana in Bulandshahr — Nadeem, alias Babu Khan, Rahees, alias Iliyas Abbasi, and Kala, alias Babu Quraishi, police said.
“We recovered one double-barrelled shotgun whose licence is in Nadeem’s name. Other tools used for cow slaughter have been recovered, such as a chopper, two knives, a Gypsy car with a Delhi-registered number plate and a wooden plank,”’ said Kiranpal Singh, newly-appointed SHO, Syana police station.
On the morning of 3 December, a mob had turned violent after remains of cattle were found in Mahav village in Bulandshahr district. Suspecting cow slaughter, the mob had clashed with police, leading to the deaths of inspector and Syana station house officer Subodh Kumar Singh and 22-year-old undergraduate student Sumit Singh.
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‘Cows shot, meat shared’
The police, after questioning the three accused, said they were also behind another cow slaughter incident which took place in Naya village on 1 December. A fourth accused, Harun, had managed to flee, SHO Singh said.
“On the night of 1 December, they had hunted a cow in the fields of Naya village along with Harun and other associates. Harun had used his own licensed gun to shoot at the cow. The cow was slaughtered and its meat shared among them. The remains of the cow had been discarded in sugarcane fields,” said Singh.
“On the intervening night of 2 and 3 December, Harun and Nadeem had used their respective guns to shoot at three cows which were then slaughtered and divided amongst them. Some meat and skin had been kept in the car by Harun. Other cow remains had been left in the sugarcane fields.”
A case has been registered under sections of the (Prevention of) Cow Slaughter Act at Syana police station.
Four accused let off
Four people who had earlier been arrested in the cow slaughter case have been let off. “We did not find any evidence against them and it seems that their names had been wrongly taken by the complainant,” Singh said.
The complainant is Yogesh Raj, the local leader of Right-wing group Bajrang Dal.
Two FIRs had been lodged in relation to the incident. One of the FIRs was filed on the basis of Raj’s complaint, which claimed that a group, including Raj, witnessed several residents of Naya Bans slaughtering cows. The group claimed they were lodging the complaint as their Hindu sentiments were hurt. The seven accused, all Muslims, are residents of the Naya Bans locality where Raj lives.
The second FIR, however, names Raj, 26 others and 50-60 unidentified persons as accused under 17 charges relating to murder, sedition, arson and dacoity for the mob violence and the two deaths.
“Twenty people have been arrested in the murder case and efforts to nab Raj are still underway,” Singh said.
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The 3 new arrests
On the arrest of the three new accused, police said they had acted on a tip-off about some people accused in the cow slaughter incident which took place on 2-3 December in the fields of Mahav village.
“According to the informer, they were present in a Gypsy car in front of the animal market and they were planning to carry out another incident of cow slaughter. Our team reached the spot and cordoned off the area. We succeeded in arresting the three accused along with a licensed gun and other tools used for cow slaughter around 7.10am yesterday,” Singh said.
Kaabil e tareef. Now that this great feat has been achieved, UP Police might wish to take up the trivial matter of arresting the murderers of Inspector Singh.