Haryana: Class 12 student 'mistaken' for cattle smuggler, chased, shot dead; 5 suspects held

FARIDABAD: A class 12 student was allegedly chased in a car and shot dead here on August 23 by a group of five suspected cow vigilantes who claimed they mistook the boy for a cattle smuggler, police sources said on Tuesday. All the five accused -- Saurabh, Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna and Adesh -- were arrested on August 28 and remanded in police custody for two days, Superintendent of Police (Crime) Aman Yadav said in a statement released on Tuesday.

During interrogation, the accused claimed 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, according to the sources. They mistook the victim, Aryan Mishra, and his friends, Shanky and Harshit, for cattle smugglers and followed their car for about 30 kilometres near the Gadhpuri toll on the Delhi-Agra National Highway, the sources said.

The accused told the police that when they asked the boy and his friends to stop their car, the driver accelerated, following which they opened fire and Mishra was killed on the spot near the Gadhpuri toll in Palwal, they said. All the accused have been sent to judicial custody after the police remand expired, the SP said, adding that the illegal weapon and the car used in the crime have been recovered.

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A police officer said that they are also investigating if it was a case of old enmity. The victim's father claimed that one of the acquaintances who had accompanied his son was part of a conspiracy to get him killed.

The weapon will be sent for forensic examination and the police are trying to ascertain the veracity of statements given by the accused, the police statement said, without mentioning if they were cow vigilantes and the reason behind the crime.