Self-styled gau rakshaks have struck again; not in the hinterlands of Uttar Pradesh or some remote corner of Rajasthan but this time, in the heart of the national capital.

Delhi police arrested one person, Shashank Sharma, today in connection to the attack on three buffalo transporters on Saturday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south east) Romil Baniya said. Thirty-two-year-old Sharma, a resident of Rohini, claimed to be a member of the non-governmental organisation People For Animals (PFA), Banya added. However, Sharma’s connection with PFA is subject to “further verification”, he told Newslaundry. PFA is chaired by Women and Child Development minister Maneka Gandhi.

Three youths transporting 14 buffaloes in a truck were assaulted on the night of April 22 near Kalkaji in south Delhi. While all the assailants are yet to be identified (let alone apprehended), Delhi police arrested the three youths, identified as Rizwan (25), Ashu (28) and Kamil (25), and slapped them with a First Information Report (FIR) which charges them under Section 429 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (mischief by killing or maiming cattle etc.) along with Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The trio were, however, released on bail late Sunday evening and Delhi police has now registered an FIR against unknown persons based on their complaint under Sections 323, 341 and 34 of IPC, Baniya told Newslaundry.

According to eyewitnesses who were travelling with the victims in separate vehicles, three cars stopped the truck transporting buffalos from Pataudi town in Gurugram district, Haryana to east Delhi’s Ghazipur mandi at the Kalkaji flyover around 11 pm on Saturday. One of the cars had a sticker which read People For Animals (PFA), eyewitnesses said. Around 15 people, some sporting saffron tilaks, alighted from the cars and attacked the youths, they claimed. After the police reached the spot, the three youths were shifted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) trauma centre for medical examination, Baniya said. Around 3 am, they were taken to Kalkaji police station where they were detained for the remainder of the day.

Two PFA representatives, brothers Saurabh and Gaurav Gupta, were present at the scene of the incident on Saturday. While it was on the basis of their complaint that an FIR was lodged against the assault victims, they denied they played any role in beating the trio up. “By the time we reached the spot, the three youths were already being beaten up by the people,” Saurabh Gupta told Newslaundry. “Some people from the neighbourhood areas who claimed to be ‘gau rakshaks‘ were assaulting them,” he added. Seemingly justifying the violence, he said, anyone who would see the pathetic conditions in which trucks are usually overloaded with buffaloes would react aggressively.

This isn’t the first instance of PFA’s name cropping up in relation to cow vigilantism in Delhi. According to a report in The Hindu, members of PFA and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) together damaged over half a dozen trucks transporting cows, buffaloes and goats at central Delhi’s ITO back in June, 2014. PFA and RSS volunteers, along with locals, beat up the drivers and torched a truck, the report states. Saurabh Gupta, identified in the report as a member of PFA, had participated in that ‘raid’ as well.

However, Gandhi’s office denied that PFA even had a Delhi unit and said those involved were acting in their individual capacity.

Further distancing themselves from the brothers’ activities, PFA trustee Gauri Maulekhi said the organisation had issued letters warning them against indulging in vigilantism which they don’t seem to have heeded. Meanwhile, the PFA website went offline on Sunday.

Ehtesham Hashmi, counsel to the three victims, claimed the police not only delayed registering his clients’ FIR but also underplayed the extent of their injuries. “The police said they just received minor injuries,” he said. “But one of them has a deep cut under his eye. They also sustained injuries on their midriff as the attackers threw them on the road and kicked and punched them,” he told Newslaundry.

Mohammed Zahid Qureshi, a municipal councillor from Pataudi who first contacted Hasmi, said the trio had relevant documents to prove they weren’t transporting the buffaloes illegally. “Humare bacche toh slip bhi lekar jaa rahe the jo unhe bechne wale ne diya tha (They were also carrying the slip that the seller had given them)”, Qureshi told Newslaundry. Hashmi claimed that during the scuffle, the slip was lost.

In response to the perceived apathy of the police, Hashmi said he is planning to file a petition in the Delhi High Court demanding a “fair investigation and trial”. However, with the police still in the dark about the assailants, chances of bringing them all to justice continue to remain bleak.