Faridabad: A Class XII student was allegedly chased in a car and shot dead here August 23 by a group of five cow vigilantes who mistook the boy for a cattle smuggler, police said Tuesday.
All the five accused — Saurabh, Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna and Adesh– have been arrested, the police said.
During interrogation, the accused revealed that August 23 night, they had received information that some suspected cattle smugglers driving two SUVs – a Renault Duster and a Toyota Fortuner – were recceing the city and picking up cattle.
They mistook the victims, Aryan Mishra and his friends, Shanky, Harshit and two girls who were travelling in a Duster for those cattle smugglers.
They then asked Aryan’s friend Harshit who was driving to stop. However, he didn’t because their friend Shanky had a feud with somebody and they thought they had sent goons to kill them.
As Aryan and his friends didn’t stop, the accused men chased the vehicle for about 30 kilometers and intercepted it near the Gadhpuri toll in Palwal on the Delhi-Agra National Highway, a senior police officer said.
The accused men then opened fire at the Duster, and a bullet hit Aryan – who was in the passenger seat – near the neck. He was shot again when his friend finally stopped the car. The second bullet hit Aryan in the chest. When the attackers saw two girls in the car, they realised they may have shot the wrong person, and fled. Aryan died at a hospital a day later.
The accused have been sent to judicial custody, police said, adding that the weapon and the car used in the crime have been recovered.
PNN & Agencies