Haryana police have arrested five cow vigilantes for gunning down a class 12 student, mistaking him for a cattle smuggler. The accused have been remanded to judicial custody.
According to police, the deceased was identified as Aryan Mishra, a class 12 student. Mishra was killed on August 23 by five cow vigilantes while they were looking for a few cattle smugglers.
“During interrogation, the accused revealed that on the night of August 23, they had received information that some suspected cattle smugglers driving two SUVs were doing recce in the city. They mistook the victim, Aryan Mishra, and his friends, Shanky and Harshit, for those cattle smugglers and followed their car for about 30 kilometres near the Gadhpuri toll on the Delhi-Agra National Highway,” a senior police officer told PTI.
Mishra’s friend Harshit was driving the car and the vigilantes had asked him to stop the vehicle, police said. As they did not stop, the vigilantes chased them and opened fire at the car. Aryan was sitting in the passenger seat and the bullet hit near Aryan’s neck, police said.
The vigilantes, fearing they might fire back, shot at Aryan again when his friend finally stopped the car. The second bullet hit Aryan in the chest, police said. “Mishra was killed on the spot near the Gadhpuri toll in Palwal,” police told PTI.
Police said all the five accused--Saurabh, Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna and Adesh--have been arrested. The accused have been remanded to judicial custody and police have recovered the car and illegal gun.
