AGRA: Police have arrested the self-proclaimed ‘gau rakshak’ (cow vigilante) who allegedly shot dead a biryani seller in Agra’s Tajganj area on Wednesday night and later claimed in a video that it was a retribution for the Pahalgam attack.
Agra police commissioner Deepak Kumar said in the video, the suspect had identified himself as Manoj Chaudhary, an alleged member of Kshatriya Gau Raksha Dal. He was arrested following multiple raids across Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, sources said on Sunday.
Cop: Man shot as a result of quarrel over food quality
On the night of April 23, Gulfam Ali, 27 – who worked at Shahid Ali Chicken Biryani, owned by his cousin – was closing the shop when three men arrived on a scooter. Two of them approached and greeted him before one of them shot him in the chest. His co-worker Saif Ali, 25, suffered minor injuries in the attack. The assailants escaped after the shooting.
Hours later, a video circulated online showing Manoj Chaudhary, with pistols tucked in his jeans, alleging he was from Kshatriya Gau Raksha Dal and taking responsibility for the murder. He claimed that he will avenge the killing of 26 – in an apparent reference to the Pahalgam incident – with 2600.
Police had earlier dismissed the link of the murder to any operational Kshatriya Gau Raksha Dal unit in Agra, adding that the video was “likely a publicity stunt”. After the arrest, police commissioner Deepak Kumar reiterated the cops’ earlier stance, saying, “The crime seems to have been committed as a result of a quarrel over the quality of food served by biryani seller a few days ago.”
