Faridabad: When a frail Siyanand Mishra visited the local jail in Faridabad, his son’s killer touched his feet and asked for forgiveness. “He said he thought my son was a Muslim. Now he regrets killing a Brahmin,” Mishra recalled, describing the painful meeting with the accused, Anil Kaushik, on 27 August.
Kaushik is known locally as the Monu Manesar of Faridabad, after the notorious Bajrang Dal member and ‘cow vigilante’ from Gurugram. Kaushik and four others were arrested for the murder of 19-year-old Aryan Mishra. Initially, the police suspected it to be a case of gang rivalry.
However, investigations have revealed that Kaushik and his associates thought that Aryan and his friends were smuggling cows in their car. The incident took place around 3 am on 24 August, barely three days after a Muslim migrant labourer in Charkhi Dadri was killed by a mob who thought he had consumed beef.
“I asked Kaushik, ‘Why would you kill a Muslim? Only because of a cow?’” said Mishra, sitting in a chair on the rooftop of his two-room apartment in Faridabad. “‘You could have shot at the car wheel or called the police. Why take the law in your own hands?’ Kaushik didn’t have any response.”
I asked Kaushik, ‘Why would you kill a Muslim? Only because of a cow? You could have shot at the car wheel or called the police. Why take the law in your own hands?’ Kaushik didn’t have any response
— Siyanand Mishra, victim Aryan’s father
The incident has sent shockwaves in Bajrang Dal circles. A member who oversees ‘cow protection’ activities in Palwal and Faridabad said all ‘gau rakshaks’ have been told not to take the law in their own hands but to alert the police if they notice any suspicious activity or receive a tip-off.
“This incident is a blot for us. This is the first time in a decade that such an incident has happened. It’s a sad truth that we killed our brother,” said Shailendra Hindu.
Aryan was shot in the head and right shoulder near the Gadpuri toll plaza on NH-19 in Haryana’s Palwal district, after being chased by Kaushik for about 50 km.
This incident is a blot for us. This is the first time in a decade that such an incident has happened. It’s a sad truth that we killed our brother
— Shailendra Hindu, Bajrang Dal member
“He said that the car had black film on the windows and then looked at me with his hands folded,” said Mishra after his three-minute meeting with Kaushik. A saffron flag with a painting of the Hindu god Ram hangs from the door of his apartment.
‘A devout Hindu’
On 27 August, while the Mishra family was in Prayagraj for Aryan’s cremation, the father received a call from the police. “They suspected that cow vigilantes were involved in the killing,” he said. A “devout Hindu from Ayodhya”, Mishra refused to believe it and requested the police to withhold the information.
Driven by the urge to know the truth, an agitated Mishra requested police to arrange for a meeting with Kaushik. Since then, he has been unable to wrap his head around that ‘confession’.
“Kaushik told me that a car with black-tinted windows in the middle of a deserted road is usually a smuggler carrying cows to Palwal or Nuh,” said Mishra. By way of explanation, Kaushik reportedly told the father that the tinted windows did not let him see who was inside the car and he shot blindly at the vehicle.
(Accused) Kaushik told me that a car with black-tinted windows in the middle of a deserted road is usually a smuggler carrying cows to Palwal or Nuh
— Siyanand Mishra, victim’s father
Besides Aryan, there were four people in the car. His friend Harshit Gulati (23) who was behind the wheel, his brother Shanky (26), their mother Sujata (45) and her friend Kirti (49). According to the police, Kaushik’s group had received a tip-off regarding SUVs being used to smuggle cows. Aryan and others were travelling in a Duster SUV.
“Only because we have given freedom to these cow vigilantes that they are able to keep illegal guns to shoot at people,” said Mishra.
But he almost immediately contradicts himself as if in a daze. “Harshit and his family had a role to play,” he alleged, worried that his son will be painted as a cow smuggler after his death.
“My son is not a cow smuggler. He was a devout Hindu,” he mumbled.
Aryan, a Class twelve student, had returned home from a party when he got a call from Harshit, around 1.20 am on 24 August. The Mishras rent their apartment from Harshit’s father. Aryan, about to go to bed, left in the middle of the night.
“He said that mom I have to go downstairs to meet a friend, and I’ll be back quickly. He didn’t even take his phone with him,” said Aryan’s mother Uma.
Two hours passed, but Aryan didn’t return. Instead, Krishna Gulati, Harshit’s father, knocked on their door, requesting the family to come with him, saying Aryan was in trouble. Gulati took Mishra and his other son to SSB Hospital in Faridabad, where they found Aryan’s body on a stretcher.
“I asked Harshit and his mother, Sujata, what happened to my son. They kept making up stories, saying that some goondas from Sector 1 opened fire, but no one told me the truth,” said Mishra.
Gulatis’ role
The Gulatis told the police that they had gone out to eat Maggi that night when a white Swift car chased them. “But they misled us,” a senior police official who did not want to be named said about the Gulatis.
The police blame them for delay in Kaushik’s arrest. “They directed us to people who they had enmity with. But when we followed up, we found that those people weren’t at the scene. That’s when we realised something was wrong and checked the Gadpur toll plaza CCTV footage, which led us to Kaushik and others,” the official said.
Everyone knows that Kaushik does God’s work by saving cows. Why would he kill an innocent person?
— a shopkeeper in Faridabad
The official added that Shankey Gulati is an attempt-to-murder accused, and his family thought they could blame Aryan’s death on his enemies.
Mishra himself had learnt about Shankey’s alleged criminal background six months ago when he was working as a police informer. According to him, Shankey was involved in supplying illegal arms as well. Since then, Mishra said he has been trying to move out of the apartment, but the Gulatis have yet to return the lease deposit.
“So far, we haven’t found any association between the accused and Mishra’s landlord (Gulatis). The matter is under investigation,” said ACP Aman Yadav.
The accused, identified as Anil Kaushik, Varun Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Adesh Singh, and Saurav Kumar, have been arrested under sections 103(1) (punishment for murder), 190 (unlawful assembly), and 191(3) (armed with deadly weapons) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), 2023.
According to the police, Shankey was absconding and had returned to spend time with his family on 24 August. While they were driving, looking for a place for him to hide, they spotted Kaushik’s white Swift with red and blue lights, and mistook it for a police vehicle. On seeing the Duster speeding, Kaushik gave chase and opened three rounds of fire, killing Aryan. When Sujata and Kriti got out of the car, the accused drove off.
‘The illegality must stop’
The usually bustling market of NIT Faridabad was notably quiet on Tuesday afternoon. A small crowd had gathered outside a shop selling women’s dresses and kurtas, where mannequins displayed the latest designs. The topic of conversation was the murder of Aryan Mishra.
A shopkeeper expressed disappointment over the arrest of Anil Kaushik.
“Everyone knows that Kaushik does God’s work by saving cows. Why would he kill an innocent person?”
Another individual in the group attributed the killing to a possible ‘personal rivalry’. No one seemed ready to believe that a popular gau rakshak like Kaushik and his team could kill a fellow Hindu. The gathering at the shop proposed one conspiracy theory after another.
This illegality in the name of gau raksha must stop. I don’t endorse it
— Siyanand MIshra, victim’s father
Meanwhile, back at Aryan’s home, his mother Uma was showing visitors a framed photo of him with a tilak on his forehead. “He would always have a tilak,” she said softly.
Just last month, Aryan had walked barefoot in Kanwar Yatra to Haridwar and visited the Jyotirlinga in Nagpur. When he returned, his parents massaged his feet for 20 days to help him recover from the pain.
“He was very religious, and knew all the shlokas. All his neighbours loved him,” Uma recalled in her broken voice. Aryan wanted to open a mobile shop and had enrolled for a course in Ghaziabad. However, his mother insisted he finish his education first, his elder brother said.
Outside, on the roof of their fourth-floor apartment, a poster hangs asking for ‘Justice’, inviting people to join in a candle march. With a white stole covering his head, Mishra speaks to the stream of journalists visiting his home. The father has not eaten but he is not tired, saying he wants to ensure justice for his son.
“I carried the body of my youngest son on my shoulders,” he cries. “This illegality in the name of gau raksha must stop. I don’t endorse it,” he says in a feeble voice.
(Edited by Prashant)