Cattle transporters faced no assault in Arang, they died after fall from bridge: police

U.P. cattle transporters death: Police say they were neither assaulted nor did they have any confrontation with the group of men who chased them.

In the charge sheet on the deaths of three cattle transporters from Uttar Pradesh in Chhattisgarh’s Arang in June, investigators have informed the court that the three were neither assaulted nor did they have any confrontation with the group of men who chased them.

Kirtan Rathore, additional superintendent of police, said the men jumped off the bridge after being chased by the men. Mr. Rathore said the chargesheet in the case, registered as culpable homicide not amounting to murder, was filed before a local court last week. It names five men from either Raipur or Mahasamund.

On June 7, two cattle transporters, Guddu Khan, 35, and Chand Miya Khan, 23, were found dead under the Mahanadi Bridge connecting Arang on Raipur’s outskirts to neighbouring Mahasamund district, under suspicious circumstances after allegedly being chased by a mob. A third transporter, Saddam Qureshi, the sole eyewitness in the case, was lying injured with the two. He died during treatment on June 18. Their truck, carrying buffaloes, was parked on the bridge.

The police findings contradict the allegations made by Shoaib, a relative of Chand and Qureshi, who said the three were assaulted by a mob. He made the claim based on a phone conversation with Qureshi on the night of the incident.

Shoaib’s statement formed the basis of the FIR, initially registered as an attempt to murder on Qureshi, but later changed to culpable homicide, as in the case of the other two deceased. Shoaib has said that he heard Qureshi’s cries for help over a phone call made at the time of the incident. He alleged that the Raipur police has not thoroughly investigated the case.

But Mr. Rathore said police “have not found any evidential value in the claim of an assault on the trio.” “According to our investigations, five men in two cars chased the truck carrying the victims and punctured its tyres. The trio then disembarked from the vehicle and jumped off the bridge, sustaining injuries,” he said.

Police said Harsh Mishra, 24, Raja Agrawal, 24, Mayank Sharma, 26, Navin Singh Thakur, 28, and Tanay Luniya, 40, have been arrested. Mr. Rathore said the men had communicated and coordinated to intercept the vehicle suspected of transporting cows.