Cow vigilantes clashed with municipal employees in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore on Wednesday during the removal of an allegedly illegal cow shelter, reported PTI.
A few government vehicles were damaged in the violence, the officials said.
The protest against the gaushala’s eviction was led by members of the Hindutva group Bajrang Dal.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Vinod Kumar Meena said that no complaints had been filed by any of the parties involved in the scuffle.
Videos of the incident that were circulated on social media showed a heated argument between government employees and Bajrang Dal members, during which members of the latter group used sticks to smash the windows of a truck used to transport cattle.
The cow shelter, in the city’s Dutt Nagar area, was built without permission and was being removed after complaints from residents, Indore Municipal Corporation’s Deputy Commissioner Lata Agarwal told PTI.
Agarwal also said that two or three municipal employees were beaten up and several government vehicles were damaged in the clashes. She added that appropriate action would be taken as per the municipal commissioner’s instructions.
Local Bajrang Dal convenor Praveen Darekar claimed that the gaushala was nearly 30 years old. He alleged that when cows were being shifted from the Dutt Nagar facility to a state-run shelter for cows, around 20 to 25 of the animals were crammed into a single vehicle, resulting in injuries to about five of them.
“People from the Hindu community were enraged by this incident and when they protested, municipal employees misbehaved with them,” he said. “If a police case is registered against any of our workers, we will also have a case registered against the corporation employees.”
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