Udham Singh Nagar police claimed to have cracked a case of the murder of a policeman by arresting three cattle smugglers on Saturday, who had killed a policeman on December 12. The accused had allegedly crushed the on-duty cop under the speeding wheels of the vehicle they were on. The police have recovered pistol and cartridges from their possession.
The accused have been identified as Sukkha, Anmol and Asif, residents of Moradabad. They have admitted their offence, police said, adding that four other persons- Rafi, Bhura, Nadim and Bhujahid, residents of Moradabad- had been involved in it. Rafi and Bhura are the main gang leaders, police said. Teams have been formed to arrest the absconders, said SSP Kewal Khurana.
All the accused are parts of a cattle smuggling gang and they are involved in stealing cattle from various places in Rampur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Chandausi, Sambhal, Amroha, Bijnor, Udham Singh Nagar to be sold in various markets, he said, adding that several cases have already been registered against them in various police stations of Western Uttar Pradesh.
He further said that the team had raided several suspected hideouts of cattle smugglers and in course of investigation it was found that a gang from Moradabad had committed the crime.
Notably, four unidentified persons reached one Bhukan lal’s house in Mahtosh village at Gadarpur around 1 am on Sunday to steal his domesticated cattle. Hearing some noise, Bhukan lal got up and found the accused lifting up his buffaloes in a pick-up van. As he and his wife Shakuntala resisted them while screaming for help they were taken into a room where they were beaten up severely. However, as the couple continued yelling the nervous criminals fled towards Nawabganj near UP border, leaving the buffaloes behind. With the locals having informed the police of Mahtosh police post (temporarily), the police Chowki in-charge informed the Ratanpura Nawabganj check post policemen, Basant Singh Bora, resident of Pithoragarh and Jitendra Kumar, resident of Haridwar, asking them to act swiftly and apprehend the escaping cattle smugglers. The cattle smugglers allegedly broke the barricade put up by police and crossed the State’s border into Uttar Pradesh.
However, ten minutes later, the criminals allegedly returned and rammed the van they were on into the two-wheeler the cops were riding. While Bora, crushed under the wheels, had died on the spot Kumar was seriously injured. There was another constable Subhash Joshi present there. He was attacked too, though he managed to save himself.