Villagers question four names in FIR on cow slaughter, 11 & 12-yr-old among those named

Bulandshahr: Villagers have questioned the inclusion of at least four out of seven names in an FIR over alleged cow slaughter, with a family claiming that two of their children, aged 11 and 12 years, were named in it.

Other villagers also disputed the names of two men in the FIR, saying one did not live in the village and the other was working in the Ijtima at Bulandshahr when the violence had broken out after a mob protested against cattle slaughter. Police said they were probing the matter.

The FIR was lodged Monday on a complaint by Bajrang Dal's Yogesh Raj, who is accused in another FIR on mob violence.

The children are cousins, one of whom is a student of class 6 and another a student of class 5. They are residents of Naya Bans village, less than 3 km from Chingrawathi police post where violence had broken out.

The father of the class 5 student, said, "Their names should be removed from the FIR which accuses them of cow slaughter. Just look at them (suggesting their age)."

The mother of the class 6 student said the police reached their house Tuesday at 2.15 am and started conducting searches. "They left at 2.30 am before leaving everything in the house messed up," she claimed.

"I told them nobody by that name lives here, and they left," she said.

The Uttar Pradesh police see a "conspiracy" behind the Bulandshahr mob violence and are investigating why cow carcasses were found on December 3, three days ahead of the anniversary of the demolition of the Babri mosque, says the state's police chief.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath will meet Thursday, the family members of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh who was killed in the Bulandshahr violence.

Yogesh Raj, the main accused in the Bulandshahr violence who has been absconding since Monday, issued a video message on Wednesday claiming innocence, saying he was not present at the site. More reports on P6