Delhi Police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested a 29 year-old man who had allegedly slaughtered a cow and then thrown its parts with intention to provoke communal riots in the National Capital’s Harsh Vihar area on the day of ‘Holi festival’. Police said that the accused Imran was on the run after committing the crime and he was randomly changing his hideout in Uttar Pradesh (UP). Police had also declared a reward of Rs 25 thousand on information leading to his arrest.
The accused Imran, a resident of Ghaziabad, in 2016 had killed a buffalo by injecting poison and was arrested by the sleuths of Loni police station under section of NDPS Act.
According to Pramod Singh Kushwaha, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Special Cell, on March 21, in the early morning, local residents of Harsh Vihar noticed that some body parts of a slaughtered cow and an animal fetus were which were lying near the boundary wall of Arora Farms in Harsh Vihar.
“Gradually, people gathered there and they were highly provoked on seeing the scene. People of majority community had gathered on the roads and had held demonstration to protest cow slaughter, but timely and swift action by local police helped in easing the situation,” said the DCP adding that a case under 429/432/153-A of Indian Penal Code (IPC), 11L of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and Delhi Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act was registered at Harsh Vihar police station and investigation was taken up.
“During investigation, three associates of the accused Imran, identified as Parvez, Lukman and Insallaham were arrested but Imran went underground. On June 11 specific inputs were received that Imran who has been hiding somewhere in Uttrakhand would come to meet his family members near Loni roundabout in the early hours of Wednesday following which a trap was laid and the accused was arrested,” said the DCP.
“During interrogation, the accused disclosed that he along with his associates had conspired to flare up communal tension between two communities (Hinud and Muslims) in the area of Harsh Vihar on the day of Holi celebration. As per plan, they slaughtered a cow and mischievously spread body parts of cow to create communal tension and a law and order problem in the area,” said the DCP
