19-yr-old mistaken for cow smuggler, chased, shot dead in Haryana

The five accused had received information that cow smugglers across the city were hunting and collecting cattle in Renault Duster and Toyota Fortuner cars.

A class 12 student identified as Aryan Mishra from Haryana's Faridabad was shot and killed by cow vigilantes on August 23 after they mistook him for a cow smuggler.

Faridabad Police, as per PTI, said that five members of a cow vigilante group - Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna, Adesh and Saurabh - have been held.

Aryan and his friends Shanky and Harshit were mistaken for cow smugglers by the five members who chased the three boys for 30 km near Haryana's Gadhpuri on the Delhi-Agra Highway.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that on the night of August 23, they had received information that some suspected cattle smugglers driving two SUVs were doing recce in the city. They mistook the victim, Aryan Mishra, and his friends, Shanky and Harshit, for those cattle smugglers and followed their car for about 30 kilometres near the Gadhpuri toll on the Delhi-Agra National Highway, a senior police officer said.

The accused who were arrested by the police spotted a Duster at Patel Chowk and made an attempt to halt it.

Harshit who was driving the car, was asked to stop, but the boys didn't pay heed to the cow vigilantes' demands as Shanky who had a rivalry with unknown people thought that goons were sent to kill him.

As the trio didn't stop the vehicle, the accused fired a bullet at the car which broke the rear glass window and hit Aryan near the neck who was sitting in the front passenger seat, after which Harshit finally stopped the car.

One of the accused approached the car and shot again directly into Aryan's chest at point blank range, following which the cow vigilantes surveyed the car only to find two women present in the vehicle, as per an NDTV report.

Fearing that they shot the wrong person, the cow vigilantes fled the crime scene.

The victim Aryan was hospitalised but he succumbed to his injuries the next day.

All the accused have been sent to judicial custody after being presented in a city court, he said, adding that the illegal weapon and the car used in the crime have been recovered.

Further investigations are underway, the police said.

With PTI inputs