‘Wanted a life like Monu Manesar’: Anil Kaushik who thought Aryan Mishra was his once in ‘lifetime case’

The key accused behind the brutal murder of Faridabad boy Aryan Mishra, Anil Kaushik was a hardcore Monu Manesar fan and wanted ‘power’ like him.

He had long waited for a ‘case of a lifetime’ to gain recognition in the world of cow vigilantes. When a tip-off about a car carrying cows went viral, he went for it and shot the 19-year-old, mistaking him to be a cow vigilante.

“Kaushik always wanted to be like Manesar. He had tried many times to enter the core Bajrang Dal or Gau Raksha groups but was not taken seriously by them. He made his own Live for Nation Sangathan, a Faridabad cow vigilante group. Kaushik wanted social media following like Manesar and believed that if he managed to get one Bollywood-style chase and catch a cattle smuggler, he would make it. Kaushik would often get himself clicked with guns,” said one of his close associates now being probed by the Faridabad police.

ACP (Crime) Aman Yadav said that there were many theories afloat and they were investigating.

“We are looking into all the possibilities and investigating. The accused are in judicial custody,” said Yadav.

Aryan Mishra, 19, was shot dead on a highway in Palwal around midnight on August 23. Five people – Saurabh, Anil, Varun, Krishna and Adesh – who allegedly chased him and opened fire were arrested on August 28. After the arrest, the accused revealed that they took him to be a cow smuggler and shot him.