The Delhi Police on Thursday arrested animal rights activist Gaurav Gupta in connection with the assault on three Muslim youths transporting buffaloes on April 22, ANI reported. Earlier this week, the police had arrested Shashank Sharma, who had claimed to be a member of People for Animals group run by Union Minister Maneka Gandhi.
Earlier this week, Gupta had denied any association with the incident and said that he had tipped off the police about the transportation of the buffaloes to Ghaziabad. “First, we called the police. We made a police complaint and then filed the case,” he had told ANI.
Two cases – one for the assault and the other for cruelty towards animals – were registered in connection with the incident, which took place near Kalkaji Temple in Southeast Delhi. The police arrested the victims on Sunday on charges of cruelty towards animals.
The police had said the three men were taking 14 buffaloes in a truck to east Delhi’s Ghazipur mandi when they were stopped by members of the non-governmental organisation. Investigators had ruled out any involvement of cow vigilante groups in the incident. The victims had been identified as Rizwan (25), Ashu (28) and Kamil (25). While Rizwan and Kamil are residents of Pataudi town in Haryana, Ashu is a resident of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
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