‘Smugglers’ arrested after being chased down by cow vigilantes in Gurugram

Gurugram: Three alleged cattle smugglers were arrested Thursday after being chased by ‘gau rakshak’ in Sector 56 area when their car overturned, police said.

The driver of the pickup truck and two others managed to flee, they said.

“There were three cows in the pickup Jeep and one of them was injured. The injured cow has been sent to a shed for treatment,” said Inspector Sanjeev Kumar, SHO, Sector 56 Police Station.

“We have nabbed all three accused identified as Iqlas, Sarif, and Waris and are probing the allegations of cattle smuggling,” he said. In a video of the incident that surfaced on social media, the accused were allegedly seen throwing a cow from their vehicle on the road as they were being chased by the members of gau rakshak dal and Bajrang Dal, police said. According to the police, the incident took place around 2.30 am Wednesday night on the Golf Course Road.

According to police, Premjit, a worker of Bajrang Dal, had got information around 1.40 am that some suspected cattle smugglers had picked up some cattle from Tigra village.

When Premjit went to a place near Badshahpur-Darbaripur road at around 2.30 pm, he spotted a pickup vehicle with cattle in it, they said. When he signalled the driver to stop, he drove into Premjit’s car and tried to flee. Premjit then called other members of the cow vigilante group and police.

“While fleeing, the smugglers started throwing stones and also the animals out of the pickup to block our way. As they tried to speed away, their car went out of control and overturned,” Premjit said in his complaint, according to police.

“A smuggler got stuck under the pickup and two others sitting in the cabin were also injured. The driver of the pickup and two others escaped,” he said. All injured were rushed to the hospital by police.

An FIR has been registered in the matter against the three under sections 279 (theft) and 307 (murder attempt) of the IPC, and Section 13 (2) of the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act 2014, and section 11 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act at Sector 56 Police Station.