Police in Rajasthan exchange fire with ‘cattle smugglers’, body recovered

JAIPUR: The Alwar police on Sunday morning recovered the body of a man, suspected to be a “cow smuggler”, from an abandoned vehicle and found 23 cows, five of which were dead, police said.

Alwar superintendent of police Rahul Prakash said the Baswa police of Dausa district received a tip-off about a vehicle smuggling cows and set up barricades. “The smugglers broke the barricades... During the chase by Dausa and Alwar police teams, the smugglers opened fire though no one was hit. Police responded by firing,” he said.

The Alwar police chief said the chase did not last long as two of the tyres of the vehicle were deflated. It hit a cement block and the smugglers fled into darkness. “While searching the vehicle, we found a body and the cattle. He may have died while trying to escape,” Prakash said.

Police said they were trying to identify the man through several cellphones found in the vehicle. The body was taken to government hospital for post-mortem.

This is the latest in a series of incidents related to cow-smuggling in eastern Rajasthan.

On November 10, 2017, the mutilated body of 35-year-old Umar Mohammad of Ghatmika was found on the railway tracks. Police said he and two others were transporting cattle when “anti-social elements” attacked them. Police arrested Umar’s companions, Tahir and Javed, on charges of cow smuggling.

In December that year, an alleged cow smuggler was killed in an encounter with police, also in Alwar. Police said the man was smuggling cows in a pick-up truck, and was killed in an exchange of fire with the police.