BULANDSHAHR: A cop was killed after a alleged illegal cow slaughter clashed with the police in Syana tehsil of Bulandshahr district.
47-year-old Police Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh lost his life in the clashes was also the Investigating officer (IO) of the Akhlaq lynching case. During the violence that ensued in the region, a 21-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party activist, identified as Sumit, was shot and was succumbed to his injuries.
According to the first-hand accounts of eyewitnesses and initial investigation by police officials, the location and timing of the Bulandshahr tragedy point towards a pre-planned attempt at spreading communal tension.
The tragic incident took place during the ‘Tablighi Ijtema’, a three-day Islamic congregation which began on December 1, where almost 10 lakhs of devotees from minority community across the country gathered to attend the congregation.
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Tehsildar Rajkumar Bhaskar was the first administrative officers to reach the spot in Mahaw village. Talking to News18, he said, “Dead cow meat was hanging in a sugarcane field. Head and skin of a cow hung like clothes on a hanger. It is strange because anybody who would indulge in cow slaughter would not put it out for display knowing the situation in the state. It was visible from far away.”
When the news of dead meat spread, Hindutva vigilantes including of members of Hindu Yuva Vahini, Shiv Sena and Bajrang Dal gathered at the spot, loaded the carcasses of cows in tractors and take it towards Bulandshahr-Garhmukteshwar State Highway, the very route the Muslim devotees supposed to take to return on the last day of Ijtema.
The SHO and other officials reached the spot and tried to console the crowd. The situation could have worse as lakhs of Muslim devotees were present at the venue of ‘Tabligi Ijtema’ held at 40 km from Mahaw village where the skeletal remains were found.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAJAE81faUQ
Yogesh Raj, a member of the Bajrang Dal is being considered the main conspirator behind the rampaging mob violence is on the run.
According to a political observers, clash over a polarizing issue like cow slaughter could dent the six years of attempts to reconcile the two communities especially after the Dadri lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq.
On 28 September 2015, 52-year-old Akhlaq was dragged out of his house and attacked by villagers in on suspicions that he slaughtered and stored a calf in his residence.
The 19 accused of Akhlaq lynching were out on bail and also got a job within three months in public sector National Thermal Power Corporation.
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