Agra cow slaughter incident planned to spoil harmony of U.P.: Akhilesh Yadav

The Agra Police said some members of the All India Hindu Mahasabha and a few others, including members of the Muslim community, were involved in slaughtering a cow last month.

Reacting sharply to the Agra cow slaughter incident, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on April 9 demanded immediate action against the anti-social elements involved in the crime, and described it as a well-thought-out plan to spoil the communal harmony of the State by making false allegations against people of other communities on the occasion of Ram Navami.

“According to the Uttar Pradesh Police, some anti-social elements committed the crime themselves and tried to spoil the harmony of the State by making false accusations against people of other communities on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami. They should be punished immediately,” wrote Mr. Yadav on Twitter. Mr. Yadav also added that policemen who honestly investigated the case need to be honoured.

Earlier, the Agra Police said some members of the All India Hindu Mahasabha and a few others, including members of the Muslim community, were involved in slaughtering a cow last month. They also tried to implicate four Muslim men, with whom the group had previous enmity, in the crime.

The U.P. Police have arrested two people. They have also identified Sanjay Jat, who had been a spokesperson of Hindu Mahasabha, as the primary suspect who conspired to frame the Muslim men.

Senior Agra Police officials told The Hindu on Sunday that Mr. Jat had already been expelled from Hindu Mahasabha. “During technical surveillance we came to know that the four Muslim youth had no role in the cow slaughtering and it came to light that Mr. Jat along with a few others committed the act as they had enmity with these Muslim youth and wanted to implicate them. Due to his previous anti-social activities, Mr. Jat was already been expelled from the Hindu Mahasabha. We have the letter of the organisation’s national president in this regard,” said Rakesh Kumar Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Chhatta, Agra.