A class 12th student was shot dead by cow vigilantes in Haryana's Faridabad as they mistook him for a cow smuggler. Five members of a vigilante group chased the victim, Aryan Mishra, in a car and shot him dead on August 23.
The victim and his two friends Shanky and Harshit were chased by the accused identified as Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna, Adesh, and Saurabh for about 30 kilometres before they shot at Aryan, reported NDTV. The incident took place near Haryan's Gadhpuri on the Delhi-Agra National Highway.
The cow vigilantes had received the information that some cow smugglers were recceing the area in Renault Duster and Toyota Fortuner and were picking up cattle, as per the report.
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While searching for the cattle smugglers, the accused saw a Duster car at Patel Chowk and asked the car driver, Harshit, to stop. The trio, however, did not stop as Shanky had a rivalry with some other people and they thought that goons had been sent to kill them.
When the three boys did not stop, the accused opened fire at the car and a bullet hit Aryan near the neck, who was on the passenger seat. When the vehicle stopped, the accused again shot at Aryan thinking his friends might fire back at them.
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However, when the accused saw two women in the car, they felt that they had shot the wrong person and fled.
The victim was rushed to a hospital where he died a day later.
The accused have been arrested by the police and the weapons used by them were illegal, the report stated, adding that further investigation into the incident is underway.