2 cow slaughtering accused arrested after encounter

Varanasi: In a late-night encounter on Wednesday, the Mubarakpur police in Azamgarh district arrested two accused of cow slaughter in Bawan Bigha area of Gajhara. Both the accused were involved in stealing a calf and butchering it in Bamhaur village recently.Azamgarh's CO (Sadar) Astha Jaiswal on Thursday said that Mubarakpur police station in-charge Shashi Mauli Pandey and his team were busy in night patrolling when thet received a tip-off that some criminals involved in slaughtering stray cattle were heading towards Samodhi on a motorcycle. Soon after, the cops cordoned off Bawan Bigha area in Gajhara and tried to intercept them. Upon seeing the police team, the motorcycle-borne miscreants tried to take a U-turn and flee, but lost control over the vehicle and fell off. Thereafter, they opened fire at the police team in a bid to escape. When the cops retaliated, both of them suffered bullet injuries in the legs and were caught.They were identified as Imran (28) and Kasid (21) of Bamhaur. After recovering two country-made pistols, cartridges, and a motorcycle with a fake registration number, police rushed them to hospital.During interrogation, they confessed to stealing a calf on March 20 night from Bamhaura village and slaughtering it to sell the meat. The recovery of remains of the butchered calf from an orchard of the village had sparked tension in the area. After lodging a case based on the complaint lodged by a woman, police had started searching for them.