M A I N   N E W S

Cattle smugglers murder youth in Gurgaon, villagers go on rampage
Sumedha Sharma/TNS

Villagers blocked the Gurgaon–Pataudi road for over 6 hours on Sunday. Tribune photo

Gurgaon, August 25
The traffic on the Delhi-Jaipur rail track and the Gurgaon-Pataudi highway remained disrupted for around 7 hours as thousands of villagers went on rampage following the killing of a local youth, allegedly by cattle smugglers. The enraged protesters damaged buses, attacked a local police post, blocked a rail route, thus affecting more than 20 trains.

Protesters stoned the Bhuj-Bareily Express, thus bringing it to a halt. Later, they thrashed some passengers of a particular community, claiming that the alleged cow smugglers were also from that community. They also thrashed some policemen and mediapersons for allegedly “ignoring the menace of cattle smuggling”.

Vaaspur resident Vikrant Yadav, a member of the local Gae Bachao Samiti, was allegedly hacked to death this morning while he was chasing a tempo being used for transporting cows for slaughter.

According to his relatives, samiti members and the police had the information that some cows were being taken for slaughter in a tempo. Vikrant followed the tempo on his bike while his associates followed him in another vehicle.

“Vikrant drove very fast and soon we were left behind. There is a police check-post near the Jamalpur chowk. Ironically, the policemen let the tempo pass, but stopped Vikrant for checking. To make up for the time loss, he drove even faster and came parallel to the tempo driver, who attacked him with some weapon. By the time we reached there, Vikrant had already died,” said Harish Yadav, Vikrant’s brother.

Villagers from nearby areas got together and blocked the traffic. The blockade continued for around 7 hours. The protesters were demanding sacking of police officials who were on duty in the area at that time. They also sought martyr’s status for Vikrant.

SDM Manoj Khtari tried to pacify the protesters, but in vain. Enraged over the alleged apathetic attitude of authorities, they went on a rampage. A group of protesters reached the Tajnagar railway station and blocked the railway track. They went their ire on the Bhuj-Bareily Express that was crossing the station at that time. As the police lathicharged protester, they started torching vehicles.

Around six policemen were injured in the ensuing clashes. The condition of two of them is stated to be critical. The rail traffic could be restored only after 5 pm.

“The situation is tense, but under control,” said Rahul Sharma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South).