NEW DELHI: Two men have been identified for killing a 40-year-old caretaker of a farmhouse and assaulting a few others on suspicion of slaughtering cows, police said on Thursday.
Rajaram was assaulted in a farmhouse in Chhawla area in Southwest Delhi and succumbed to injuries at a hospital on Monday, they said.
Two FIRs were registered on two separate complaints, one of them was filed by the injured men, and another by some locals. Five men have been arrested for the alleged cow slaughter so far, while none for murder and assault.
"We had arrested five men for cow slaughter. Our teams are now looking for the men involved in assault and murder. Around 10-15 of them had fled the scene by the time our team arrived," a senior police officer said.
"With the help of the dump data collected from devices used near the spot, we have got some leads and have been able to identify the presence of two men at the time of incident," he said.
"We suspect that the two men whose presence was identified were involved in the incident. Teams have been sent to neighbouring states including Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other places to catch the culprits," he added.
Police said since there are no CCTVs installed at or near the scene of crime it has been a challenge to ascertain the identity and establish the sequence of events, but dump data and technical surveillance is being used to solve the case.
Eight cows including two calves that were at farmhouse with Rajaram's family have been taken to a shelter centre, the officer said.
Police are also waiting for the autopsy and medical report of the animal carcass to reach any conclusions, they said.
Rajaram's family has denied the allegations against him and claimed he was targeted by locals for no reason. However, according to the FIR, one of the injured associates of Rajaram said that they were called by him to kill cows for meat.
"My husband is innocent. All he did for earning extra is selling cow milk to villagers and run a battery rickshaw which was taken on rent," Jhaso Devi, the wife of the deceased has claimed.
Following the incident on Monday, police said that they were informed that a group of men was slaughtering cows and selling the meat in the area on the intervening night of April 10 and 11.
A team was rushed to the spot, but before it could reach there, 10-15 unidentified people, claiming to be "gau rakshaks" (cow vigilantes), reached the farmhouse and attacked those inside it, a senior police officer had said.
"When we reached the spot, we found the men were being attacked. The police personnel intervened and all injured persons were taken to nearby hospitals," he had said.
One case was registered under sections 429 (Mischief by killing or maiming cattle, etc, of any value or any animal of the value of fifty rupees), 120 (Concealing design to commit offence punishable with imprisonment), 120 B (criminal conspiracy), 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and other sections of Delhi Agriculture Prevention Act and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
The second case was registered on the complaint of injured worker under IPC sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 337 (Causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others), 341 (wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (common intention).
