Five more arrests have been made in the case of a violent mob killing a police officer on December 3 in Bulandshahr of Uttar Pradesh over alleged cow slaughter.
Interestingly however, three of the arrested persons have been booked for cow slaughter, even as the main accused in the killing of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh is still at large. Yogesh Raj, the main accused Bajrang Dal leader, has been reportedly even posting videos from hiding. An army jawan, Jitendra Malik, was arrested in this connection a week back. And now, with five more arrests, the total number of arrests has gone up to 19. In the police’s FIR, 27 persons were named and cases were filed against another 60 unidentified persons for causing violence. Two of the other arrested were booked for mob violence.
Those arrested for alleged cow slaughter – which apparently led to the mob violence – were Nadeem, Raees and Kala. These were however, not the names that had been mentioned by Yogesh Raj in the complaint he had filed on the cow slaughter prior to the incident of mob violence.
According to officers, the three arrested were part of a gang that shot the cows, slaughtered and shared the meat. Guns and knives have been found from the arrested, according to the police.
The shocking incident took place on December 3 in Bulandshahr when a group of local people reportedly found cow carcasses lying in a field bordering a forest area. The violence apparently started from there, as the local people then started an agitation, blocked a road and attacked policemen when they came to clear the roadblock. Stones and bricks were pelted at the policemen and inspector Subodh Kumar Singh was shot at.
Yogesh Raj, though mentioned in the police FIR as the main accused, has been missing since. Others mentioned in the FIR include leaders of right wing groups from the area. However, he has so far managed to evade arrest despite posting a video claiming to be innocent. Another accused person has even given an interview to a news channel, but he too remained beyond the police’s reach.
The two arrested for mob violence were said to be Sachin Singh and Johnny Chaudhary.
