‘Encouraging agenda of hate’: Kapil Sibal on killing of Haryana student ’mistaken’ for cow smuggler

Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said on Wednesday that "encouraging the agenda of hate" led to the killing of a Class 12th student by "cow vigilantes" in Haryana's Faridabad last month. In a post on X on Wednesday, Sibal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, President Droupadi Murmu and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to comment on the issue.

Sibal wrote on X, “Shame on Us; Aryan 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐫𝐚 (class 12th student) Shot and killed by cow vigilantes in Haryana mistaking him to be a “cow transporter” ! Cause : Encouraging the agenda of hate; Will our PM Our Vice-President Our Home Minister Speak up!”

Aryan Mishra's killing

Class 12th student Aryan Mishra was allegedly chased in a car and shot dead in Faridabad on August 23. Five people, suspected to be cow vigilantes, were held in connection with the incident.

Police sources told news agency PTI that the accused claimed they mistook the boy for a cattle smuggler.

The five accused were reportedly indentified as Saurabh, Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna and Adesh. They “were arrested on August 28 and remanded in police custody for two days,” Superintendent of Police (Crime) Aman Yadav said in a statement released on Tuesday.

How the incident unfolded?

During interrogation, the accused claimed that on the night of August 23, they had received information that some suspected cattle smugglers driving two SUVs were doing recce in the city, according to the sources.

They mistook the victim, Aryan Mishra, and his friends, Shanky and Harshit, for cattle smugglers and followed their car for about 30 km near the Gadhpuri toll on the Delhi-Agra National Highway, the sources said.

The accused told the police that when they asked the boy and his friends to stop their car, the driver accelerated, following which they opened fire and Mishra was killed on the spot near the Gadhpuri toll in Palwal, they said.