Three members of a gang allegedly involved in cow slaughter were arrested after an encounter in Amethi that left two persons, including a policeman, injured, a senior official said on Thursday.

The accused, Shahzad alias Tidda, was shot in the leg while the policeman suffered bullet injury on his hand during the encounter on Wednesday night, Superintendent of Police Dinesh Singh said.

On a tip-off, a police and Special Operation Group (SOG) team had laid a trap near Bhatmau on Purvanchal Expressway, when the accused opened fire on them. The cops returned the fire.

The injured were being treated at a community health centre, the SP said.

Police had been on an alert after a video of cow slaughter in the district surfaced on social media two days ago.

Meanwhile, in another shocking incident reported from Amethi, three people were arrested after a video of them assaulting a monkey went viral on social media.

Inspector in-charge of Piparpur police station, Dhirendra Singh Yadav, said that three youngsters, identified as Sangam, Radhe, and Suraj, were arrested in this connection.

Yadav said that the three youths were charged under Indian Penal Code sections 147, 223 and 429.

The FIR was lodged by one Devendra Singh, who went to rescue the monkey but was chased away by the three youths.

According to police, the incident occurred outside a beer shop in Durgapur market in Piparpur police circle of Amethi district.

The injured monkey was sitting at the roadside near the beer shop when three drunken youths stepped out and started hurling stones at it. They continued to attack the monkey with stones until it stopped moving.

The police notified the Forest department officials who disposed of the carcass. Officers from the Forest department are also likely to lodge an FIR under relevant provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.