Why Hindu & Muslim men joined hands in Agra to slaughter calf: ‘Wanted biz rival out of way, stoke tensions’

Police have arrested six men till now. Two of them are 'butchers by profession', while the other four claim to belong to Hindutva outfit, Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha.

The 4 arrested outside an Agra police station | Photo courtesy: Agra Police

Agra: The Agra police arrested four alleged office bearers of a Hindu outfit, Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (ABHM), Wednesday for allegedly slaughtering a calf and conspiring to frame another group of four men for it.

This takes the total number of arrests to six — Imran Qureshi and Illi were arrested last Wednesday — though 10 people are accused in the case. Apart from the six arrested, Nadeem surrendered in a court on 5 April while Salman, Shanu (shares name with one of the framed men) and Shanu alias Ajay are absconding, the police said.

The crime was allegedly committed on the intervening night of 29-30 March in a bid to disrupt communal harmony, said the police. 

Sanjay Jaat, Jitendra Kushwaha, Brajesh Bhadauria, and Saurabh Sharma were booked under Sections 429 (committing mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless, any elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow or ox), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 211 (false charge of offence made with intent to injure) of the IPC and Sections 3/5/8 of the UP Cow Slaughter Prevention Act and Sections 4/25 of the Arms Act.

Led by Swami Chakrapani, ABHM is a breakaway faction of the Hindu Mahasabha. The accused had been vocal on issues such as cow slaughter, removal of temples set up at railway stations, love jihad, and had earlier called for protests at Aligarh Muslim University for removal of Jinnah’s photo from the institution.   

According to police sources, Jaat was a part of the ABHM but was expelled from the outfit. When ThePrint reached Chakrapani for a comment, he sought to distance himself from the accused. “The incident is very serious and despicable. Sanjay Jaat was told not to use the name of the Mahasabha, but these people have continued to do so,” he said.

Jaat had regularly issued press releases, claiming to be the “national spokesperson” of the outfit. According to their own claims, Bhadauria was the youth state president of western UP, Kushwaha the Agra mandal president, and Sharma the Agra district incharge for the outfit. ThePrint is in possession of many such press releases over the years.

While the ABHM has several branches across the country, the accused were operating in Agra, Mathura and Aligarh region.

According to the police, the four ‘ABHM members’ were not only involved in the conspiracy of slaughtering the calf, but they also tried to spark communal tensions on Ram Navami by resorting to protest and sloganeering at the Etmaddaula police station, demanding the arrest of the four men they had named for the crime. 

They said Kushwaha informed the Etmaddaula police station on 30 March about the alleged cow slaughter. In a First Information Report (FIR), he named Nakeem, Shanu (son of Naeem), Rizwan alias Kalta, and Bijjo alias Chhotu, for the crime and claimed that when he and his associates arrived at the spot, the accused fled, leaving behind the carcass.

However, upon investigation, the four persons named in the FIR were found to be not present at the spot while Kushwaha and others had given false information to frame them, the police told ThePrint. The four were let off after questioning. 

‘Conspiracy involving butchers’ 

According to Agra police, Qureshi and Illi are butchers by profession who have two and five cases lodged against them respectively in different police stations of Agra.

“At 1.50 am on 30 March, I received a call from Jitendra Kushwaha that a cow had been slaughtered in the bushes of the Gautam Nagar Gufa area. He levelled allegations against four persons against whom an FIR was lodged under IPC Sections 429 and Sections 3/5/8 of the UP Cow Slaughter Prevention Act,” said Etmaddaula SHO Rajkumar.

“However, investigation revealed that the four were neither present at the spot during the alleged crime, nor had they visited it for a while.”

Local police said while Jaat, Kushwaha, Sharma, Bhadauria, and Ajay allegedly hatched the conspiracy, Nadeem, Salman, Shanu, Illi, and Qureshi were involved in the slaughter.

Speaking to mediapersons last Thursday, the additional superintendent of police, Agra, Suraj Rai, said Illi and Qureshi were “butchers by profession”. 

Three persons riding a scooter were captured in the CCTV footage around the spot near the Gautam Nagar Gufa. The scooter belongs to Illi. Those on it were identified as Salman, Qureshi and Shanu. Illi and Nadeem were spotted in another CCTV footage on a bike near the spot, the SHO told ThePrint. 

Illi and Qureshi were arrested on 5 April and they allegedly revealed how the crime was orchestrated on the intervening night of 29-30 March, he said.

“Nadeem is friends with Jaat and they have exchanged 500 calls in the last few days. It was found that the calf was not slaughtered for selling, but to create communal tension on the occasion of Ram Navami,” Rajkumar said.

A detailed statement issued by the Etmaddaula police last Thursday said that Illi, Bhadauria, Sharma and Ajay met Kushwaha near Sultanganj Pulia before they went to the crime spot together on two-wheelers. The crime was executed by Illi, Qureshi, Salman, Nadeem, and Shanu.

Police found that several calls were exchanged between Illi, Nadeem and Qureshi at the time of the incident, it said. ThePrint has a copy of the police statement.

‘Jaat played main role’

“Illi told the police that after slaughtering the calf, Qureshi informed him that he had taken some of the meat in a packet. Qureshi, Salman and Shanu allegedly left on Illi’s scooter. Then, Bhadauria, Sharma and Ajay allegedly informed the other Hinduvadi netas about the incident,” read the statement.  

“Sanjay Jaat played the main role in the conspiracy. Nadeem, Sharma, Bhadauria and Ajay helped create the impression that Nakeem, Rizwan, Shanu, and Bijjo had carried out the cow slaughter and had fled the spot,” it further said.

SHO Rajkumar told ThePrint that the main motive behind the slaughter was to create communal tensions on the occasion of Ram Navami and to send Nakeem, Bijjo, Rizwan and Shanu (son of Naeem) to jail.

“Jaat and others were friends with Nadeem, who is a butcher and has cases of cow slaughter lodged against him. Nadeem has a rivalry with Nakeem, who works in the Nagar Nigam. Nakeem had earlier complained against Nadeem for cow slaughter and the latter, along with Qureshi, had gone to jail in connection with the 2020 incident,” the SHO said. 

‘Jaat, Nadeem had monetary ties’

The SHO added that Jaat allegedly takes money from Nadeem and he felt they could operate their illegal meat business freely if Nakeem and others were out of their way. The other accused are involved with Nadeem.

“Nadeem and Qureshi came out on bail only a few days back. It was Nakeem’s information to Nagar Nigam officials about the alleged cow slaughter that they were jailed. So, Nadeem had allegedly wanted to teach them a lesson. Jaat has monetary ties with the group too and allegedly takes money as convenience fee. In lieu of this, Jaat would allegedly help Nadeem run his business and even paid for their bail in the 2020 case,” the SHO said.

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)