Contradictory statements

Contradictions appear in the two statements given by Bajrang Dal's Bulandshahr unit convenor Yogesh Raj over the cow slaughter incident on Monday which spiralled into a mob violence that claimed two lives, including that of a police inspector.

Two FIRs were registered by the police at Siyana police station in Bulandshahr – one over cow slaughter and the other on the mob violence in which a village man was also killed. The first one was lodged at 1 pm on December 3, the day violence broke out, on a complaint by Raj in which he claimed cow slaughter near Mahav village and accused seven persons from nearby Naya Bans village.

Almost 50 hours after the violence broke out and several accused including Raj went absconding a purported video with his statement surfaced on social media on Wednesday.

In the purported video, Raj, who starts off with a "Jai Shri Ram" salutation and introduces himself as the Bajrang Dal's Bulandshahr unit convenor, says he was informed about the cow slaughter.

"There were two incidents that happened on that day," he said referring to the Monday incident.

"The first incident was related to cow slaughter at Mahav village near Siyana. When I got information about that, I reached there with my supporters. The police also reached there and we went to the Siyana police station for filing our complaint (about cow slaughter)," he said.

However, farmer, on whose "fields" in Mahav village the caracasses were found strewn on December 3 morning, claimed the dead animals were discovered by a villager only who alerted Raj Kumar Chaudhary about it around 7 AM.

Chaudhary, a former head of Mahav village, had alerted the local police which had reached the spot and the matter had come to an "amicable compromise" around 8.30 AM, his wife Preeti claimed.

"Nobody knows who informed these people from the (Bajrang) Dal that they reached the spot. They only insisted on taking the carcasses to the police station when everything was already settled," she told PTI.