Hyderabad: The Gudimalkapur Police on Monday, May 18, have booked an attempt to murder case against self-proclaimed cow vigilantes (gau rakshaks) who attacked a truck driver and two police personnel late on Saturday night, May 16, after mistaking a plywood-laden container for a cattle transport vehicle.
The incident triggered stone pelting between two groups, forcing police to deploy additional forces and carry out a lathi charge to restore order.
How the trouble began
The incident began around 11:45 pm when a group of 20 to 30 vigilantes stopped a container near Tappachabutra, suspecting it was transporting cattle. The vehicle, which had come from Beed in Maharashtra and was carrying plywood from Chennai, was found to contain no animals. Despite repeated clarifications from the driver, Sheikh Rasool, and local residents, the group allegedly refused to believe him and attacked the vehicle, pelting stones and damaging it.
“They threw stones, damaged the vehicle, and caused me injuries. Who will do justice for us?” Rasool later told HN10 News.
Police personnel attacked
Local residents who had gathered at the scene retaliated and chased the vigilantes away. When police arrived and began shifting the truck to a safer location, the vigilantes intercepted it again – this time near pillar number 63 of the PVNR Expressway – and renewed their stone pelting, targeting the truck driver, his cleaner and the two policemen accompanying them.
At least two police personnel sustained injuries in the attack. Several passersby and vehicles were also caught up in the violence.
Senior officials rushed additional forces to the spot. The situation was brought under control after a lathi charge dispersed the crowd.
MLA steps in
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLA Majid Hussain reached the spot and helped pacify the crowd, even sitting inside the lorry with the driver for nearly half an hour. He was critical of how the police had handled the situation.
“When locals were telling the police that it is a plywood-carrying truck, all the inspector said was that he would carry out a lathi charge. You could have kept the vehicle near the Asif Nagar police station. What is the use of this policing that is helping communal violence?” Hussain said.
Cases filed
The Gudimalkapur Police booked an attempt to murder case against five persons, including Sai, the head of a local gau raksha group, invoking sections 109(1) (attempt to murder), 189(4) (unlawful assembly), 191(3)(aggravated rioting), 121(1) (voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant), 324(4) (mischief) and 126(2) read with 3(5) (wrongful restraint) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
All the accused are currently absconding, and efforts are under way to arrest them.
A separate case has been registered at the Tappachabutra Police Station against another group of vigilantes for threatening and misbehaving with Rasool. Sources also told Siasat.com that the police are also registering a case against individuals who staged an unlawful protest outside the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) (Golconda) zone office.
