In Mayur Vihar, cow thieves give police sleepless nights

DELHI POLICE are struggling to catch a notorious gang of cow thieves — who have given cops the slip three times in the last month — in east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar Phase-3.

The most recent incident took place on January 30, when police were forced to fire at the wheels of the vehicle used by the accused, a Tata 407 truck, but missed. The accused then rammed their car into the PCR van police had arrived in, before fleeing the spot.

Police have registered a case of attempt to murder and obstructing a public servant from discharging his duties at Ghazipur police station.

Police said the incident took place at 2.20 am, when police reached Gharoli village in Mayur Vihar Phase-3 after receiving a call regarding “cow theft”. Police said they parked the PCR van near a marriage hall to block the culprits’ escape route. When they saw police approaching, the accused got into their vehicle and reversed it. This made police think the accused planned to escape on foot.

“But the accused accelerated the vehicle and charged towards the police team. Officers fired at the tyre, but missed, and had to jump out of the vehicle’s way to save themselves. The accused then hit the PCR van at high speed and escaped,” an officer said. The accused could not steal any cows, police said. Police could not chase the gang as the PCR van was badly damaged. The accused’s vehicle did not have a registration number, police added.

The man who made the PCR call, Surender Yadav, said police have come to the area at least four times to catch the gang in the last few months. He said police were forced to fire at the tyres of a vehicle in November, too.

“This year, the accused came on January 8, 13 and 30, and on each occasion, police had come. There is an E-FIR registered on the basis of the my son’s complaint on January 14. But each time the accused manage to flee,” he said.

DCP (East) Omvir Bishnoi said several police teams have been formed to nab them. “They operate across the capital, and usually carry bricks to hit cops. We have mounted technical surveillance after the recent incident and will nab them soon,” he said, adding that the gang usually strikes at night.

Abhishek Angad The damaged PCR van, in Ghazipur.