After three Bajrang Dal men along with a Muslim man were arrested on charges of cow slaughter and placing the carcass near a police station on February 1, Hindutva outfits have come out in support of the accused.
On Saturday, February 3, members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal gathered in Ambedkar Park to march towards the district collector’s office and register their protest against the arrest of Sumit Bishnoi alias Monu, also with Raman and Rajiv Chaudhary.
However, the Moradabad police did not let them proceed leading to an altercation. The VHP and Bajrang Dal members started raising slogans alleging Monu and his friends were being ‘falsely implicated’.
Case background
On February 1, Sumit Bishnoi alias Monu along with Raman Chaudhary and Rajiv Chaudhary were arrested by the UP police on charges of cow slaughter and placing the carcass near the Chhajalat police station in Moradabad district to falsely implicate the Station Head Officer (SHO).
Another arrested accused was identified as Shahabuddin.
According to local reports, on January 16, the carcass of a cow was found near Samadpur village and on January 28, another cow carcass was found in the forest of Chetrampur village, both near the police station.
Investigations revealed that Bishnoi, who was recently released from jail on charges of attempt to murder, wanted SHO Satendra Sharma to “dance to his tunes”, which the officer refused.
Angered, Bishnoi hatched a conspiracy to slaughter a cow and place its carcass on a religious route to cause a communal disturbance and in turn hold the SHO responsible.
Police said that Bishnoi had paid Rs 2,000 to Shahabuddin to carry out the work.
Moradabad police registered two FIRs under IPC sections 120B (Criminal Conspiracy), 211 (False charge of offence made with intent to injure), 380 (Theft in dwelling house), 457 (house-trespass or house-breaking) and 411 (Dishonestly receiving stolen property) and section 3,5,8 of Cow Slaughter Act.
