Ground Report

‘Extortion, personal rivalry’: What motivated a cow slaughter ‘conspiracy’ in Agra

On the intervening night of Ashtami and Navami, the police in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra traced a calf’s body near a garbage dump after receiving a tip from the Hindu Mahasabha about alleged cow slaughter. An FIR was filed on a complaint from Hindu Mahasabha mandal president Jitendra Kushwaha, and the police was subsequently pressured by activists associated with the outfit to arrest four suspects – Rizwan, Nakim, Vijju and Shanu.  

However, the investigation has now found that the calf was killed allegedly as part of a conspiracy hatched by nine accused, including four Hindu Mahasabha activists, only to frame the four Muslim men. Demands for extortion and personal rivalry were behind the conspiracy, police said.

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