Faridabad teenager’s killing: No proof that accused men were part of cow vigilante group, say police

More than a week after a Class 12 student was killed in Haryana allegedly by men who mistook him for a cattle smuggler, the police claimed there was no evidence that the accused persons were part of a cow vigilante group, The Hindu reported.

However, the mother of one of the accused men told NDTV that her son is a “cow protector”, although she denied that he fired the bullet that killed the student.

The Class 12 student, Aryan Mishra, was shot around midnight on August 23 when he had gone out with his friends to eat noodles. The 19-year-old was rushed to a hospital, but died a day later.

Five men – Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna, Adesh and Saurav – were arrested in the case.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Crime) Aman Yadav claimed there was no evidence that the accused persons were part of a cow vigilante organisation. He said that it was a case of mistaken identity and that the shots were fired on account of a misunderstanding, according to The Hindu.

Yadav, however, said that the police were looking into both the claims of the accused persons and the possibility of them being cow vigilantes.

Earlier this week, reports had said that the accused persons had received information that cattle smugglers were carrying out surveillance in Faridabad using sports utility vehicles of the same model as the car in which Mishra and his friends were travelling. However, the assistant commissioner of police said at the press conference on Tuesday that officials had not come across any such information during their investigation.

However, the mother of key accused person Anil Kaushik told NDTV that her son was a “cow protector”, and also said that he was chasing the car in which Mishra was travelling. However, she claimed that her son was innocent and did not fire the bullet that hit the student.

NDTV also quoted unidentified persons working at Kaushik’s office as saying that he is well-known as a cow vigilante.

Further, the Class 12 student’s father Siya Nand Mishra told The Hindu that Kaushik confessed after being taken into police custody that he fired at Mishra and his friends as he believed they were cow smugglers. The victim’s father claimed that the accused man made the confession in his presence.

The case

Around midnight on August 23, Mishra had gone out with his friends Harshit and Shanky in a Duster car. The accused men had reportedly got information that cattle smugglers were carrying out surveillance in Faridabad and were travelling in Duster and Fortuner sports utility vehicles.

When the accused men saw the Duster car on August 23, they signalled for it to stop. However, according to the police, Harshit and Shanky had previously been involved in a dispute with a man and a case had been filed against Shanky. Due to this, they mistakenly believed that the same persons were signalling for them to stop the car, and so, they sped away,

The accused persons then chased the Duster car for about 25 kilometres, believing that the occupants were cattle smugglers. After chasing the car for several kilometres, they shot at the vehicle. One of the bullets hit Mishra, who was sitting next to the driver’s seat.