Victim alleges cow vigilantes involved, police say no evidence

Chandigarh, Sep 10 (PTI) One of the Mewat gangrapevictims has alleged that their attackers were cow vigilantesbut the Haryana police today said no evidence has so far cometo fore suggesting that the four accused arrested in the casewere part of any cow protection group. The family of the victims alleged that they had informedthe police personnel about the cow vigilantes but they choseto ignore it. "They (attackers) asked us ‘you eat cow meat’. We said’no’. They then said ‘you eat cow meat’. They said ‘we arekilling you because you eat cow’. "We told this to the police but they are not doinganything," one of the two victims said. A couple was murdered and two girls from the familyallegedly gangraped after the accused had barged into theirhouse in the wee hours on August 25 in a village in Mewatdistrict. "I need justice. They have killed by son anddaughter-in-law. They have gangraped my grand-daughters. Theway police has behaved, we have no hope," said a relative ofthe victims. Police said that the investigation in the case is stillon and so far they have not found any link with cowvigilantes. "So far there is no such evidence of them (accused) beingcow vigilantes or being part of cow vigilante group,"Inspector General of Police, South Range, Rewari, Mamta Singhsaid. She, however, said that investigations in the case wascontinuing. Singh said that the case has been recommended to betransferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation. On August 28, Haryana Police had arrested four youths inconnection with incident. The accused had also ransacked the house, an isolatedstructure located in the middle of farmland, and fled withsome valuables including cash. After committing the crime, the accused had tied theinjured with ropes and escaped from the spot. Some residentsliving nearby found the injured after which the police wasinformed. PTI SUN AKA CKRT