GURGAON: Five
cow vigilantes
were
arrested
last week by the
Faridabad Crime Branch
Faridabad for the August 23 fatal
shooting
that claimed the life of 20-year-old student,
Aryan Mishra
, near
Gadpuri toll plaza
on NH-19 in Palwal district.
The accused mistook the victim to be a cow smuggler and opened fire at the car in which he was travelling. Aryan succumbed to bullet injuries on August 24.
According to ACP Crime Aman Yadav, the accused are Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna, Adesh, and Saurabh, from Faridabad.
"Anil Kaushik operates a cow protection group and the other accused are his associates. The accused are currently in judicial remand," the ACP said.
On the night of August 23, Anil and his associates received information that cows were being smuggled in a Duster vehicle. Anil's team started searching for the vehicle and they spotted the Duster SUV at Sector-21C in Faridabad at 1.30am on August 24 and started following it.
When the accused tried to intercept the SUV at Sector-21C, Harshit, a youngster from NIT 5 in Faridabad who was driving it, and his brother, Shanky, thought police in civil dress were chasing them to arrest Shanky. When the incident happened, Harshit Gulati, Shanky alias Sagar Gulati, their mother, Sujata Gulati, neighbour Kriti Sharma, and their tenant, Aryan Mishra, 20, who was pursuing 12th class through open schooling, were in the Duster vehicle.
They were returning home after having noodles at an eatery near Vardhman mall in Faridabad.
"Shanky is accused in a criminal case in Faridabad and he thought police were trying to arrest him. On Shanky's instructions, Harshit started driving the vehicle fast and the accused followed them," said a crime branch official.
Harshit drove the vehicle onto the Delhi-Agra expressway towards Palwal. Suspecting that
cattle smugglers
were trying to escape, the accused started firing at the car. At Baghola village after Gadpuri toll plaza on the expressway, one round hit Aryan who was sitting in the front seat next to Harshit.
Harshit immediately pulled over the car. At around 3.05 am, the accused got out of their car and fired another round at Aryan from close range, suspecting that cattle smugglers would retaliate.
"Aryan suffered bullet injuries in his head and neck. After firing from close range, the accused peeped inside the car and realised their mistake as there were women sitting in the back seat. They fled from the scene," said a police officer of
NIT PS
.
Aryan succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment at the SSB Hospital on the afternoon of August 24.
Based on the complaint of his father Siyanand Mishra, a case was registered under sections 103 (1) (murder), 190 (unlawful assembly), 191 (3) (rioting armed with deadly weapons) of the BNS and section 25 of the Arms Act at NIT PS on August 24.
Initially, family members of Harshit and Shanky levelled allegations against a group of men from their neighbourhood. When police raided their homes, all the suspects were at home and cops soon realised that they were not involved in the offence.
Police then verified the CCTV footage at different places and identified the Swift car used by the accused.
Four of the offenders, including Anil, were arrested on Thursday and the fifth accused, Saurabh, was caught on Friday. After the police remand, all the accused were produced before the court and sent into judicial remand on Friday. "The accused had opened fire at the car in which Aryan was travelling, suspecting that the vehicle belonged to cattle smugglers. Aryan succumbed to bullet injuries," the ACP said.
English (US) ·