5 accused for killing 2 sadhus from Uttar Pradesh

Five men have been arrested by the police for allegedly killing two sadhus, who tried to oppose cow slaughter in UP’s Auriya district last week.

“These accused indulged in cow smuggling. One of the sadhus Lajja Ram had called the police on the night of August 14 saying six cows were about to be slaughtered near their Bhayanaknath temple in Dibiyapur. Police rescued these cows and arrested two persons, who were relatives of the accused, with sharp weapons. What followed was a reprisal killing by the enraged accused later that night as they saw the sadhus as an obstacle to their crimes,” superintendent of police, Auriya, Nageshwar Singh told ET.

The five accused Salman, Nadeem, Shahzad, Najeem and Jabbar were arrested following a deadline fixed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to solve the case by Sunday. “The accused say Lajja Ram’s tongue was also chopped off by them as a signal to people who complain against cow smuggling,” Singh told ET. Another sadhu Harbhajan was also killed after being tied to his bed while the third sadhu Ramsharan is fighting for his life in a hospital in Saifai. Police are on the lookout for seven more men, Singh said. “The main motive of the crime was to silence the voice of protest from these sadhus towards the crimes of the accused,” he added. He said the accused also looted the donation box of the temple in an attempt to mislead the police to treat the case as one of robbery.