Bulandshahr violence: 3 arrested for cow slaughter, cop’s killer still missing

Apparently, two weeks after a police officer was killed in mob violence over alleged cow slaughter in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr, five more arrests have been made, three for cow slaughter.  The main accused in the killing of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh on December 3 is still at large and posting videos from hiding.

Nadeem, Raees and Kala are the three people who were arrested on Tuesday for alleged cow killing that led to mob violence. Atul Srivastav a senior police officer said, “They were part of a gang that hunted cows and shot them with a double-barreled gun. They would slaughter the cows using sharp instruments like knives and share the meat.”

The police claimed that a gun and knives used to kill cows have been found from these men.

Reportedly, none of these names were in the original complaint of cow slaughter filed by Yogesh Raj, the Bajrang Dal leader who is the main accused in the killing of inspector Singh.

As told to NDTV by police sources that there is also no evidence against four others initially arrested in the cow slaughter case. Sarfuddin and Sajid were two of the four men named in the FIR by Yogesh Raj, key accused in the incidents of mob violence and the murder of the inspector. The police stated that they will move court for the release of these men.

Yogesh Raj and Shikhar Agrawal, another accused and also a leader of the BJP Yuva Morcha in the area, have been missing since the incident.

Meanwhile, Yogesh Raj has posted a video claiming his innocence. Shikhar Aggarwal also gave an interview to a news channel, but the police have not been able to track down the whereabouts of either of them. Last Saturday, an army jawan, Jitendra Malik was arrested for the same cause.

Two more arrests are made by the Special Task Force (STF) for instigating mob violence – Sachin Singh or Cobra, 21, and Johnny Chaudhary, 19 – taking the total number of people in custody to 19, but the family of the martyred Inspector said that the real killers are still scot-free.

Expressing her grief on the occasion, deceased inspector’s wife Rajni Singh said, “My husband worked for the country and died. Why are my husband’s killers still free.” Her tears were not wasted as the CM of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath has assured justice. Rajni also said, “Tomorrow it will be someone else and every mother will be afraid of her son joining the police force.”

The police officials have said that they need more time to interrogate the accused and bring out the truth.

So far, the police have named 27 people in the First Information Report (FIR) and cases have been filed against another 50-60 unidentified persons for violence.

The violence happened on December 3 this year after cow carcasses were found scattered in a forest. The police officer was cornered in a field, attacked with a stone and finally shot dead in mob frenzy.

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