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A group of alleged cattle smugglers opened fire at Bajrang Dal members who were chasing their mini-truck, injuring one of the members, the police said. The incident happened during the early morning of Thursday at 3:45 am when the Bajrang Dal members were tipped off about the cattle smugglers.
The smugglers sped off after hurling four cows from their high-speed moving vehicle. The incident has been caught on video by a member of the vigilante group.
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Police have booked five men, named by the Bajrang Dal members in the case.
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The vigilantes intercepted the vehicle in Gurgaon’s sector 10. Sushil Chaudhary, Bajrang Dal’s regional convenor, told PTI that the vigilantes chased the truck in their SUV. During the chase, one of the smugglers opened fire and a bullet hit our Manesar unit convener Monu, he added.
Monu, 26, was admitted at a private hospital in Gurgaon, told Manjeet Singh, an office bearer of the gau raksha department of Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Haryana unit.
The video shot by the vigilants later surfaced on the social media. It showed a mini-truck speeding past a police barricade during the chase.
There were four cows in their pick-up van and during the chase the smugglers threw them out one by one in order to deter the vigilantes, Gurgaon police spokesperson Subhash Bokan told PTI.
Five people have been named in the FIR and a search is on for them. They have been identified as residents of Mewat region of the district, he added.
The accused cattle smugglers are booked under Indian Penal Code sections 279 (rash driving), 307 (attempted murder) and 336 (act endangering the life of others) and under the Arms Act, police said. They have also been booked under the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015, which prohibits cow slaughter, trafficking and consumption of beef in the state, police added.
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