A Class 12 student in Haryana’s Faridabad has been allegedly chased in a car and killed by cow vigilantes who mistook him for a cattle smuggler. Five members of a cow vigilante group have been arrested for the August 23 attack, police said, adding the accused have been identified as Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna, Adesh, and Saurabh.
Mistaking the victim, Aryan Mishra, and his friends, Shanky and Harshit, for cattle smugglers, the accused chased their car for about 30 kilometers near Haryana’s Gadhpuri on the Delhi-Agra National Highway.
According to sources, the cow vigilantes had received information that some cattle smugglers in Renault Duster and Toyota Fortuner cars were recceing the city and picking up cattle.
The arrested accused, while searching for the cattle smugglers, saw a Duster car at Patel Chowk. They then asked the car driver, Harshit, to stop. However, Aryan and his friends didn’t stop as Shanky had a rivalry with some other people and they thought they had sent goons to kill them.
As they didn’t stop, the accused opened fire at the car and a bullet hit Aryan – who was in the passenger seat – near the neck. He was then shot again when the car finally stopped and the accused thought they might fire back at them.
Sources said when the accused saw two women in the car, they felt that they had shot the wrong person and fled.
Aryan was rushed to a hospital where he died a day later.
The weapon used in the incident was also illegal, sources said. The accused are currently in police custody and further investigation is underway.
