Cow guards lynch grade 12 student, ‘mistaking’ him for smuggler

A class 12 student was shot dead by cow vigilantes in Haryana’s Faridabad after they mistook him for a cow smuggler. Five members of a vigilante group chased the victim, Aryan Mishra, in a car and shot him dead on August 23.

The victim and his two friends Shanky and Harshit were chased for about 30 kilometres by the suspects identified as Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna, Adesh and Saurabh before they fired at Aryan, NDTV reported. The incident took place near Haryan’s Gadhpuri on the Delhi-Agra National Highway.

According to the report, the cow guards had received information that some cow smugglers were scouting the area in Renault Dusters and Toyota Fortuners and picking up cattle.

READ ALSO: Centre informs 23rd Law Commission after previous panel expires without finalising UCC report

While searching for the cattle smugglers, the accused spotted a Duster car near Patel Chowk and asked the driver of the car, Harshit, to stop. However, the trio did not stop as Shanky had a rivalry with some other people and they thought that gangsters had been sent to kill them.

When the three boys did not stop, the suspect opened fire on the car and a bullet hit Aryan in the neck, who was sitting in the passenger seat. When the vehicle stopped, the suspect shot Aryan again, thinking that his friends might shoot back.

READ ALSO: Indian Coast Guard helicopter crashes and sinks off Porbandar coast, 3 missing

However, when the suspect saw two women in the car, he felt like he had shot the wrong person and he fled.

The victim was rushed to hospital, where he died a day later.

The suspects were arrested by police and the weapons they used were illegal, the report said. Further investigation into the incident is ongoing.