UP Police with two of the accused in the case. Photo: Twitter/@AITCSanghamitra
Sat 08 Apr 2023:
The Agra police in Uttar Pradesh arrested two people and are on the lookout for seven others, including four members of the All India Hindu Mahasabha, for allegedly lodging a false FIR against four Muslim men on cow slaughtering charges at Etmaddulah police station last month. Among the accused are Muslim men who had enmity with the four people named in the FIR, the police said.
According to Amar Ujala report, the slaughter was carried out at the new Gupha in the Gautam Nagar of Agra’s Etemad-ud-Daula police station area on 29 March.
Members of the All India Hindu Mahasabha reached the area on the day, claiming that beef had been recovered from the caves. A police complaint was filed by one Jitendra Kushwaha.
Locals Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Nakim and Mohammad Shanu were named in the FIR.
Hindutva activists gheraoed the police station to demand the arrest of the accused. Two of the men – Imran Qureshi, a fourth suspect, and Shanu – were arrested the next day, The Telegraph reported.
However, police said that during interrogation it was revealed that the arrested had nothing to do with the slaughter of cows and that the national spokesperson of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, Sanjay Jat, was allegedly the main conspirator.
Uttar Pradesh has a stringent anti-cow slaughter law, providing a maximum rigorous imprisonment of 10 years and a fine up to Rs 5 lakh for the offence.
Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, Sanjay Jat.
Sanjay, face of Hindu Mahasabha, was arrested in February in an extortion case and is out on bail. The police had said he and his associates often stopped vehicles transporting beef and extorted money by threatening to lodge police cases.
“(Mahasabha leader) Sanjay Jat is the main conspirator. His followers and friends slaughtered a cow in the Mehtab Bagh area on the night of March 29 and told party member Jitendra Kushwaha to file a case against Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Nakim and Mohammad Shanu. The police arrested Imran Qureshi, a fourth suspect, and Shanu the next day.
Later, the investigation revealed that the named accused had nothing to do with the crime. An inquiry suggests that Sanjay had an enmity with some people and wanted to implicate them in the case,” The Telegraph quotes R.K. Singh, additional commissioner of police of the Chatta area of Agra, as saying.
Another police officer said: “The cow was slaughtered on the eve of Ram Navami to disturb social harmony. We had unconfirmed reports about such an incident but got conclusive evidence when they tried to implicate some innocent people.”
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