Cattle smugglers continued to pose challenge for the law enforcing agencies. On Thursday some cops were injured while making attempts to intercept a van carrying cows for slaughtering in Rampur, while a youth was killed in lakhimpur Kheri while making attempt to thwart cattle smuggling.
In Rampur, the cops of the Ganj police station learnt that some cows were carried on truck for slaughtering so they rushed and start checking one Pahari Gate on Kaiseri Road on early Thursday morning. The cops also spotted the vehicle and tried to stop it but they were shocked when the smugglers opened fire on their vehicle in which the four-wheeler was damaged and the jawans were also injured. luckily no one received bullet injury.
The truck driver later abandoned the vehicle and escaped. The cops found half a dozen cows loaded on the truck. They later claimed to have identified the smugglers as Bittu, Uwait and Atiq, and launched a hunt for them after getting a case registered in this regard.
In lakhimpur Kheri, one 45-year-old Meghan, a native of Parhaniya hamlet of Haiderabad locality, saw some criminals loading buffaloes from the area on PIKUP Van in the wee hours of Thursday. Finding that miscreants were cattle smugglers and taking the animals for slaughtering, he raised an alarm and rushed to stop the vehicle. However, the miscreants opened fire on him in which Meghan was killed while one another villager identified as Suraj, who came to rescue Meghan was critically injured. He was rushed to District Hospital. A case has been registered by the local police but no one was arrested so far in the matter.
Meanwhile tension prevailed in Mankapur area of Gonda district after a 10-year-old girl was killed in road mishap, sparking violent protest by villagers who indulged in brickbatting and arson. The incident occurred on Thursday morning when the girl, identified as Premshila, was going to school. She was hit by a bike in Bandarha village in Mankapur area and was critically injured.
She was rushed to the hospital where she died during treatment. Agitated over the incident, villagers placed the body on a road and started brick batting. They also torched some shops and bikes of the cops who reached to defuse the situation.Senior police officials later reached the spot and claimed to have brought the matter under control.