FIRs against mob for ‘rioting and taking cops hostage’ in Uttarakhand's Roorkee

ROORKEE: Multiple FIRs were filed under the BNS sections of “rioting” and “unlawful assembly” against “over a 100 unknown persons” at a village in Roorkee on Monday after a large crowd “attacked” the police’s cow protection squad (CPS) following the death of an alleged cow meat smuggler. No arrest made so far, police said.
The accused smuggler, Wasim Qureshi Monu, 24, who was being chased by the team of CPS died after “falling into a pond” in Madhopur on Saturday night.His body was fished out in the presence of a heavy police force on Sunday. Police said on Monday that three cases were registered against the mob for taking police officers “hostage”, “spreading hatred among two communities, disturbing peace” and “spreading rumours”.
In the first FIR, complainant sub inspector Sharad Singh, who was leading the CPS team, said that his team was returning to Saliyar after a patrol at Madhopur around 1.30pm when a scooter rider suddenly sped into a side lane, lost control and fell, but quickly got up and fled.
Singh added: “We suspected a crime had been committed when the person fled, leaving the scooter behind. Upon inspecting, we found a blue plastic bag near the scooter containing 35kg of pinkish, fatty meat in seven transparent bags. We also found an additional 15kg of similar meat, which, based on initial assessment, appeared to be from a bovine animal.”
He then claimed that a crowd soon gathered and surrounded his team. “During this time, some men in the crowd accused us of shooting him and throwing him into the pond… Around 100-150 people obstructed our work, held us hostage, abused, beat us, threatened to kill us and removed evidence,” he said.
The FIR was filed under BNS sections 190 (unlawful assembly), 191 (2) (rioting), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult), 351 (3) (threats of death), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), and 121 (1) (voluntarily causing hurt) and sections of the Uttarakhand Protection of Cow Progeny Act, 2007, against one Alauddin and “100-150 unknown persons”.
In the second FIR, registered on the complaint of Gangnahar SHO, Govind Kumar, the SHO said that upon arriving at the scene, he saw the crowd near the village graveyard. This FIR also said the crowd held the cow protection squad “hostage”. It named seven people, including Alauddin and his three brothers, and “over a 100 unknown persons”.
Meanwhile, Monu’s family has accused the police of acting unfairly towards them, and were yet to register their complaint. “Our brother was going on a scooter when the police (CPS team) intercepted him, thrashed and threw him into a pond. Videos of how police treated him are all there on social media. Now, cases are being filed against us,” Afzal Qureshi, cousin of Monu, told TOI.
SP (rural), Swapn Kishore Singh, said, “We’re examining their complaint as well. If we find any substance of truth in it, we’ll file a case.”