Mistaken Identity: Cow Vigilantes Shoot Class 12 Student After Car Chase In Faridabad

Faridabad: A Class 12 student in Haryana’s Faridabad was allegedly chased in a car and killed by cow vigilantes, who mistook him for a cattle smuggler.

According to reports, the incident took place late in the night on August 23 when a group of vigilantes asked the driver of a Renault Duster SUV, in which the victim, Aryan Mishra, was returning home with four others after having snacks at an eatery near Vardhman mall in Faridabad, at an isolated stretch near Gadpuri on the Delhi-Agra National Highway. Then followed a high-speed chase lasting approximately 50 km, and ended with vigilantes opening fire at the SUV. Aryan suffered bullet injuries in his head and neck and succumbed while undergoing treatment at SSB Hospital on the afternoon of August 24.

The accused fled the spot on finding women sitting in the back seat and realising their mistake.

“They [vigilantes] spotted the Duster SUV on the isolated stretch and started chasing them after signalling to the driver [Harshit Singh] to stop,” assistant police commissioner (crime) Aman Yadav was quoted as saying by HT.

Aryan’s friend Harshit did not stop as he though they were being chased because of a feud, involving his brother Shanki, who was booked for an attempt to murder on August 14. “Sanky thought police were attempting to arrest him in plain clothes. This prompted Harshit Singh to accelerate the car, triggering the chase…,” said Yadav.

Harshit’s mother, Sujata Gulati, and their neighbour Kriti Sharma were also in the SUV when the incident took place.

The footage of CCTV installed at the Gadpuri toll plaza on the Agra-Delhi national highway shows Aryan Mishra and his friends in the SUV and the accused following them in a Maruti Suzuki Swift at around 3 am.

Anil Kaushik, Varun Kumar, Krishna Singh, Adesh Singh, and Saurabh, associated with “a cow protection group”, were arrested last week by the Faridabad Crime Branch and they revealed having received information about some suspected cattle smugglers driving two SUVs and doing recce in the city. After the police remand, all the accused were produced before the court and sent to judicial remand on Friday.

Based on the complaint of his father Siyanand Mishra, a case has also been registered under Sections 103 (1) (murder), 190 (unlawful assembly), 191 (3) (rioting armed with deadly weapons) of the BNS and Section 25 of the Arms Act at NIT PS on August 24. “I was not aware of anything…Later, I got to know my son was shot on suspicion of cow smuggling…Who gives the right to shoot someone on the suspicion of cow smuggling? If the Modi government has given such a right then why?… 5 accused persons have been arrested in the case…The CBI in charge has resolved the issue…,” he later told ANI.