two arrested; Four members of Hindu Mahasabha absconding

The Agra police in Uttar Pradesh arrested two people and are on the lookout for seven others, including four members of the All India Hindu Mahasabha, for allegedly lodging a false FIR against four Muslim men on cow slaughtering charges at Etmaddulah police station last month. Among the accused are Muslim men who had enmity with the four people named in the FIR, the police said.

“On April 6, the Agra police arrested two people, Imran Qureshi alias Thakur and Shanu alias Illi, who were part of the plan to frame innocent people in the case. Raids are on to trace seven other accused, whose role came up during the investigation,” Agra Assistant Commissioner of Police R K Singh said.
Sanjay Jat, the national spokesperson of the Mahasabha, is the prime accused in the case, he added. ACP Singh said that the accused held a grudge against the four men named in the FIR and framed them to settle scores.

Jat, the complainant Jitendra Kumar, and other office-bearers of the Mahasabha did not respond to calls.

According to the police, on March 30, on the eve of Ram Navami, Mahasabha leader Jitendra Kumar filed a police complaint alleging that he had received information that Rizwan alias Kalta and his sons Nakeem, Vijju alias Chottu, and Shanu were slaughtering a cow in the thickets near Gautam Nagar and were planning to sell the meat.

Kumar told the police that he rushed to the spot with his friends Vishal and Manish Pandit. On seeing them, he said, the accused fled. Following Kumar’s complaint, an FIR was lodged against Rizwan and his sons at Etmaddulah police station under sections of the UP Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act. When the police reached the spot, they found cow meat.

Nakeem is an employee of the Agra Municipal Corporation and Mahasabha workers and leaders staged a protest outside the police station, demanding the accused’s arrest.

Raju Kumar, the station house officer (SHO) at Etmaddulah police station, said that during the probe, the police learnt that the four men named in the FIR were not present at the spot. The police said they arrived at the conclusion on the basis of human intelligence, surveillance, CCTV footage and other evidence.

On April 6, the police arrested Qureshi and Illi, both Agra residents. The police said that they recovered a knife used in the crime from their possession.

During questioning, SHO Kumar said, the arrested accused allegedly confessed to the plan to frame the four innocent men. They allegedly also revealed that Nakeem had in the past complained about them, following which the police had arrested them.
“No evidence has so far been found against the four Muslim men named in the FIR. Investigation is on,” SHO Kumar said.