At least three accused in the alleged murder case in Haryana’s Nuh district have close ties with the state police, working with them as police informers on suspected cattle smugglers, reported The Indian Express. The accused have also accompanied the police during raids.
The three accused – Rinku Saini, Lokesh Singla and Shrikant – are described as informers in at least four FIRs against them over two months in the Ferozepur Jhirka and Nagina police stations in Nuh.
The charred bodies of Junaid and Nasir were found in Loharu in Bhiwani in Haryana on Thursday morning after the duo, residents of Ghatmeeka village in Bharatpur district, were abducted from the Rajasthan district. Family members of the deceased had alleged that they were killed after they were abducted by cow vigilantes.
Five people were named in the FIR in the alleged murder case of the two, and the accused are part of the right-wing fringe organisation Bajrang Dal. One of the accused, Monu Manesar, is a prominent face of the cow protection task force of the Haryana government and has a good presence on social media.
The Rajasthan police on Monday said that eight more accused have been named in the alleged abduction and murder case.
The FIR filed on February 14 said that a police team was stationed near Nuh’s Agon village when “secret informer (guptchar) and cow vigilante (gau rakshak) Rinku” had informed that the five men involved in cattle smuggling were travelling towards Rajasthan.
The FIR states that Rinku identified the five accused, who were booked under the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015, as well as the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
The FIR registered at the Ferozepur Jhirka station on January 23 identifies Rinku as “a mukhbir khaas (secret informer) and a member of gau raksha dal”. It stated that the raids were conducted near Khera village after tip-off received from Rinku.
In another FIR registered on January 19, Singla has been described as a member of a cow protection group. The FIR stated that Singla identified the accused as they were running away, and they were booked under the cow protection Act.
Speaking about the association with Haryana police, Satish Kumar, DSP, Ferozepur Jhirka, said that that the three vigilantes – Rinku, Lokesh and Srikant – have passed the information on suspected cow smugglers to police, and their role was limited to that, as per the IE report.
Nuh SP Varun Singla said that the accused did not have any affiliation with the government.
“They are self-styled gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes and their association is only to the level that they generate actionable intelligence,” said Singla.
He added, “In a majority of these raids, police rely on information from other sources or technical information and in only a few of these cases, these informers accompany the police.”