NRI, friend claim they were fired at by cattle smugglers

GURGAON: A 35-year-old NRI and her friend claimed that alleged cattle smugglers opened fired at them and threw cows in front of their car in Sohna area on early hours of Monday. Members of a cow protection group in Sohna claimed that they were chasing the cattle smugglers when the incident happened and the two women may have been there incidentally.

British citizen Sonia Sharma, who stays at Sector 58 in Gurgaon, claimed in a press conference on Tuesday that she, along with her friend Archie Baranwal, was on a drive when they spotted a pick-up van carrying cows in an “unhealthy manner” and they decided to chase the van.

They claimed the van was running on its rims as its rear tyres were missing.

Police said a total of six cows were rescued, of which three subsequently died later.

Meanwhile, members of the Cow Protection Task Force of Sohna claimed they were also chasing the pick-up van and had put spikes on the road as a result of which the tyres of the van got punctured, but the accused continued driving due to which the rear tyres came off.

“We chased a pick-up van that was carrying cattle at around 12 am on intervening night of Sunday and Monday.

SAY WERE DRIVING WHEN THEY SAW A PICKUP VAN CARRYING COWS IN AN UNHEALTHY MANNER AND THEY DECIDED TO CHASE IT

The van was travelling from Sohna to Gurgaon. However, we missed the van initially. But at 2:30 am we again received information that the same van was coming from Gurgaon towards Sohna carrying six cows. We informed the police,” said Rohit Khatana, a member of Cow Protection Task Force of Sohna.

Khatana lodged an FIR in this regard at Sohna police station.

Khatana said police and the cow protection task force jointly carried out the operation.

During the 30-minute chase, the accused fired bullets at the police and task force members.

The two women confirmed the incident and said that when they spotted the van it was being driven without any tyres.

“We saw men on top of the van and a convoy of three vehicles blocking the road. We signalled at them to stop and as a result they threw a live cow at us and opened fired at us,” said Sharma, a businesswoman,and Baranwal, who works at an MNC. Based on their complaint, police registered an FIR at the Sohna city police station.