Police Officer Among 2 Killed in Right-Wing Mob Violence Over Alleged Cow Slaughter in UP

Two people, including a police officer, were killed on Monday as violence broke out in a village in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh after some men brought some cow carcasses alleging slaughter and indulged in violence.

Additional Director General of Police Anand Kumar said the station house officer of Syana, Subodh Kumar Singh, was attacked and injured critically as Hindu right-wing activists brought the alleged cow carcass on to the road, jammed traffic and stoned police personnel, said an IANS report

Inspector Singh had arrived with a team to restore law and order. A local resident died and another policeman, a constable, have been seriously injured.

Incidentally, Subodh Singh was the first investigating officer into the case of mob lynching in Dadri village in 2015 over alleged beef consumption, killing Mohd Akhlaq. He was looking into the case till November 2015, according to Indian Express. All the 18 accused in the Dadri case, some of whom have links with the BJP, are out on bail as the hearing in the case is still on in a city court.

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According to NDTV, while doctors, after preliminary examination, said Inspector Singh had died of a blunt injury to the head, a cellphone video surfaced suggesting that he had been shot by the mob. Confirming the authenticity of the video, a senior police officer said a detailed post-mortem would bring out the truth. The police are trying to identify the men seen in the video.

"Around 400 locals had collected there with tractor trolleys with the carcasses. The mob pelted stones," said Anand Kumar.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been constituted to probe the matter and submit a report to the Uttar Pradesh government at the earliest, an official spokesman said.

Meanwhile, security has been upped, with five companies of Rapid Action Force and six companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary rushed to the area.

Also Read: Retired Cop Beaten to Death in Broad Daylight in Allahabad

As per reports, the violence began in the morning when the carcasses of the cows were found dumped in a forest area outside the village. Activists of Hindu right-wing organisations soon gathered at the spot and alleged that people of a community were indulging in cow slaughter.

Anuj Kumar Jha, the district magistrate, said police was deployed when they got the news around 11 am. "Some people took the bodies of the animals and tried to block the road. The policemen were attacked when they tried to get the road opened," he said, as per NDTV.

Despite heavy police deployment in the area, things got out of hand. The police post was set on fire. So were motor bikes and other vehicles parked nearby.