New Delhi: Five cow vigilantes have been arrested by the Haryana police for allegedly kidnapping a truck driver and a conductor on suspicion of cow smuggling and thereafter brutally assaulting the duo, which led to the death of one of the men.
The incident, which took place in Palwal a week back, resulted in the death of Sandeep, the conductor, whose body was found in a canal on March 2, eight days after the incident. After the accused threw the duo in a canal assuming that they were dead, Balkishan, the truck driver managed to swim to safety and thereafter lodged a police complaint, reported The Hindu.
According to the police, the accused, associated with a cow protection group, attacked the duo with lathis, swords and hammers to cause them multiple fractures and stab injuries.
A search operation that lasted a week led to the discovery of the body of Sandeep – a resident of Ganganagar in Rajasthan – around 15 kilometres from the spot where it was dumped by the accused.
Three of the accused — Pankaj, Nikhil, Devraj — belong to Palwal and the two, Pawan and Naresh, are residents of Gurugram and Nuh respectively.
Deputy Superintendent of Police, Crime, Manoj Verma said the victims were transporting two dairy cattle in a pickup truck from Rajasthan to Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.
On the night of February 22, they lost their way and ran into the accused, who were riding motorcycles.
Thereafter, the members of the alleged cow protection group allegedly kidnapped the two on suspicion of cow smuggling, assaulted them and threw them into a canal in Gurugram’s Sohna.
Continuous cycle of violence perpetrated by cow vigilantes in Haryana
In recent years, Haryana has seen several instances of violence perpetrated by self-styled cow vigilantes in the name of cow protection.
In August last year, the Haryana police had arrested five cow vigilantes for allegedly shooting dead a class 12 student.
The police had said at the time the accused chased the car in which the class 12 student was travelling before shooting him, mistaking the boy for cattle smuggler.
In the same month, a 26-year-old migrant worker from West Bengal was brutally beaten to death by a group of cow vigilantes in Charkhi Dadri, Haryana. The victim, Sabir, was accused of consuming beef, along with another migrant, Asiruddin from Assam, who was also attacked.
In February 2023, Nasir and Junaid, two Muslim men from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur were murdered by cow vigilantes with their charred bodies later discovered in Haryana.
