3 cow smugglers arrested after encounter by Doon Police
By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 20 Jan: Miscreants involved in cow slaughter incidents in Vasant Vihar and Patel Nagar areas have been apprehended by the police within 24 hours of committing the crime. The police have recovered two country-made pistols, four cartridges, an auto, an axe, and a chopper from the possession of the accused. It may be reminded here that cow slaughter is completely prohibited in Uttarakhand as well as in UP.
Two individuals accused of cow slaughter were injured in a police encounter near Harbhajwala Tea Estate early this morning. According to officials, the accused had committed the act of cow slaughter two days ago in Vasant Vihar. Since then, the police had been actively searching for them. Early today, the police intercepted an auto-rickshaw carrying the suspects at a forest checkpoint near Harbhajwala Tea Estate.
Upon being stopped, the accused attempted to flee. In the ensuing chase, the suspects opened fire at the police. The police retaliated, injuring two suspects, one with a gunshot wound to the leg and the other to the hand. The injured criminals were initially admitted to a private hospital for immediate medical care before being referred to Coronation Hospital for further treatment. Investigations into the case are ongoing.
In the past two days, the challenge for Dehradun police increased due to incidents of cow slaughter in public areas of Patel Nagar and Vasant Vihar. SSP Ajai Singh had given a 24-hour ultimatum to the police stations of these areas to apprehend the criminals. Consequently, the police teams arrested three notorious criminals from Saharanpur in UP during an encounter in the Harbajwala Tea Estate area today morning. The arrested accused revealed that they had been involved in cow slaughter for a long time. On 17 January, they had come to Dehradun from Saharanpur with another partner, Farman and had stolen a cow near the Tea Estate and then slaughtered it. Yesterday, they committed another cow slaughter incident in Patel Nagar. The animal meat was smuggled using Nadeem’s tempo and supplied to a person named Aneesh from Tuntowala for further sale. The accused were caught roaming around with the intention of committing cow slaughter during intensive checking in the Tea Estate area.
According to the Doon Police, those arrested have been identified as Aarish, son of Kallu, resident of Gandewada, Police Station Fatehpur, Saharanpur; Vakil alias Chhota, son of Nazir, resident of Gandewada, Police Station Fatehpur, Saharanpur and Nadeem, son of Naeem, resident of Mohalla Berun Kotla, Kotwali Deoband, Saharanpur. They were currently residing in Lohia Nagar, Patel Nagar in Dehradun. The Police have further shared that they have a large number of cases involving serious crimes registered against them and the crimes they are allegedly involved include murders.
The Police officials claim that under the guidance of SSP Dehradun Ajai Singh, Doon Police have been taking effective action against those involved in cow slaughter and illegal animal slaughter. In the past one year, five accused involved in such activities were arrested after encounters. In total, 47 accused, including four bounty gangsters and animal smugglers who were absconding for a long time, have been arrested and sent behind the bars.
SSP Dehradun Ajai Singh has shared that the arrested miscreant, Vakil alias Chhota, has several serious cases registered against him in Saharanpur district of UP, and these cases include charges of murder, violations of the Arms Act, animal smuggling, and gangster activities. Singh admitted that two or three more cow smugglers from this gang are still absconding and added that several police teams are continuously working to arrest them.
It may be pertinent to remind here that it was in the midst of sudden rise in the cases related to cow smuggling and cow slaughter that Vishwa Hindu Parishad had staged a dharna in Dehradun and had only agreed to call off its dharna once the Police assured the organisation of continued action against cow smugglers and cow slaughterers.
