Will VP, PM speak up: Sibal on killing of student 'mistaken' for cattle smuggler

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Wednesday said the killing of a class 12 student after being 'mistaken' for a cattle smuggler was due to the encouragement given to the agenda of hate, and asked whether Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak up on the incident.

The student, Aryan Mishra, was allegedly chased in a car and shot dead in Faridabad on August 23 by a group of five suspected cow vigilantes who claimed they mistook the boy for a cattle smuggler, police sources said on Tuesday.

In a post on X, Sibal said, "Shame on us. Aryan (class 12th student). Shot and killed by cow vigilantes in Haryana mistaking him to be a 'cow transporter'! Cause: Encouraging the agenda of hate." "Will our PM, our Vice-President, our Home Minister speak up!" the former Union minister said.

All the five accused -- Saurabh, Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna and Adesh -- were arrested on August 28 and remanded in police custody for two days, Superintendent of Police (Crime) Aman Yadav said in a statement released on Tuesday.

During interrogation, the accused claimed that on the night of August 23, they had received information that some suspected cattle smugglers driving two SUVs were doing recce in the city, according to the sources.

They mistook the victim, Aryan Mishra, and his friends, Shanky and Harshit, for cattle smugglers and followed their car for about 30 km near the Gadhpuri toll on the Delhi-Agra National Highway, the sources said.

The accused told the police that when they asked the boy and his friends to stop their car, the driver accelerated, following which they opened fire and Mishra was killed on the spot near the Gadhpuri toll in Palwal, they said.