Man beaten up in Alwar on suspicion of cow smuggling

JAIPUR: A 24-year-old man carrying cattle in a pickup was allegedly beaten up by a mob in Alwar district early Monday morning on suspicion of cow smuggling, police said.

The victim has been identified as Munfed Khan of Dabarwas village of Nimrana town. The incident took place at Khusa Ki Dhani village, which falls under jurisdiction of Shahjahanpur police station, around 1am.

Station house officer (SHO) of Shahjahanpur police station Ajit Singh Badsara said that two days back there was information that some bovines were stolen in a pickup from Mundawar village which made the locals angry. After which the police were also ordered to do barricading during night.

Early Monday morning, villagers of Mundawar informed the residents of Khusa Ki Dhani that two pickups laden with bovines were going towards their village.

“After which the villagers of Khusa Ki Dhani gathered in the farms. Around 1am, they saw six people in two pickups coming towards their farms. While one of the drivers reversed his vehicle seeing the crowd, the others were rounded up by the mob. The t hree i ncluding Khan r an towards farms. Meanwhile, police had also reached the spot as we were doing barricading in the nearby area only,” said Badsara.

He added, “While police was busy controlling the law and order situation and dispersing the crowd, few villagers chased the trio. While two managed to escape, Khan was caught by the crowd and beaten by ‘lathis’ (Indian sticks) on hands and legs. While police reached near the farms where Khan was beaten by mob, the crowd who was beating him fled the spot.”

Khan was taken to a government hospital. In the medical report, minor factures were found on hands and few abrasions on legs and hands, police said. Seven bovines were recovered from the pickup in which Khan was travelling.

The SHO told that police have recorded the statements of Khan in which he has told that he was stopped by some 50-60 unidentified people and later beaten by six-seven people.

“A team is at the spot investigating the matter and collecting details of the accused after which a case would be registered very soon. So far seven persons have been called up at the police station for questioning,” the SHO said.

Meanwhile, when police checked records of Khan they found that he has been involved in cases of cow-smuggling in past too. He was on bail.

“We have a registered a case under the Bovine Act against Khan t oo. He has been discharged from the hospital. We are i nvestigating both t he cases,” the SHO said.

“Further investigation is on,” he said.