Hyderabad: Cyberabad police detained five self-proclaimed Gau Rakshaks after they attacked and robbed a driver hauling bulls, instigating communal rioting that injured the driver and three police officers.
While the five were sent to judicial remand on Monday, June 9, eight more suspects in the case fled.
According to Attapur police, Akula Vivek (20), Manojkumar Sharma (32), and Kandeghar Dattathreya (25), all Attapur residents, followed a vehicle transporting a pair of bulls from the Dabirpura cattle yard to the cattle yard of Mohammed Moin in Bharat Nagar, Siasat Daily reported.
When the car with number plate TS11UC9253 approached Mallaiah Tower in Attapur around 9.30 p.m., Vivek and two other accused wrongfully restrained it while pretending to be Gau Rakshaks (cow protectors).
They quickly talked with other suspects by mobile and a WhatsApp group dubbed "Kattar Hindu Sena." The eleven accused organised an unlawful assembly and began pelting stones while chanting "Jai Shri Ram" continuously.
During the assault, Ambadas (A1) struck the driver in the stomach with a stone, causing him to fall from the car. The group trampled him and stole his mobile phone as well as Rs 2,000 in cash that he had been paid to transport the bulls.
At that time, a crowd gathered in support of the driver, while others unlawfully gathered nearby. A furious disagreement broke out between the two groups, resulting in a violent confrontation, with some yelling "Jai Shri Ram" and others shouting "Allahu Akbar".
As the situation worsened, both sides began throwing stones at each other, which injured three police officers. An extra police squad arrived, retrieved the complainant, and transported him, together with the two bulls, to the Attapur police station.
The suspects arrested on Monday were booked under the appropriate sections for rioting, dacoity, wrongful restraint, intentional insult, criminal intimidation, promotion of enmity between two groups on the grounds of religion with a deliberate intent to outrage religious feelings, unlawful assembly, and mischief causing damage in furtherance of a common object.
The accused who were arrested have been sent for judicial remand within 24 hours of the offence.
Ambabas (A1), Manish (A6), Anil (A8), Ganesh (A9), Akash (A10), Anil (A11), Thakur Vinay Singh (A3), and Chindaliya Aman Kumar (A4) were still absconding.
The arrests were made under the supervision of Cyberabad police commissioner Avinash Mohanthi, by the joint efforts of DCP Rajendranagar zone Ch Srinivas, DCP crimes Narasimha, ACPs GV Ramana Goud, T Srinivas, and C Shashank Reddy, Attapur SHO K Nageswara Rao, and DI K Ravi.