Four men arrested on charges of slaughtering cows, which led to the mob violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr earlier this month that had resulted in the death of a police inspector and another person, were falsely implicated by district convener of Bajrang Dal, Yogesh Raj, police said on Wednesday.
Sarfuddin, Sajid, Asif and Nanhe, who were arrested on December 4 on the basis of a complaint lodged by Raj on December 3, will be released soon, officials said.
Raj is a key accused in the violence in Syana area of Bulandshahr during which police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and a villager Sumit Kumar were killed. He is yet to be arrested.
Bulandshahr’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) Prabhakar Chowdhary said their innocence was established after three people, Kala, Nadeem and Raees, were arrested on Tuesday.
“These three men, along with four others (still on the run), were involved in cow slaughter in Mahaw village. Recovery of the carcasses dumped by them led to the violence resulting in the death of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and Sumit,” he said.
Chowdhary said efforts were on to arrest the four absconding men, including the main accused Harun.
“We have ample evidence against the people arrested on Tuesday. A four-wheeler, knives, rope and a licensed double-barrel gun, which belonged to Nadeem, have been recovered. Nadeem’s gun was used to shoot stray cows in the jungle before slaughtering them,” he said.
“We will submit a report under Section 169 of the CrPC (release of accused due to deficient evidence) for their release,” the SSP said.
Police have booked 27 people by name and 50-60 unidentified people in connection with the December 3 violence after cattle carcasses were found strewn outside nearby Mahaw.
