20-year-old killed by cattle smugglers in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur; villagers clash with police

A 20yearold man lost his life after a confrontation between villagers and suspected cattle smugglers in Uttar Pradeshs Gorkhapur spiralled into violence on Tuesday Meanwhile the alleged smuggler has been critically injured in the incident while some senior police officers have also been hurt in stonepelting news agency PTI reportedTension flared in Mauachapi village which lies under Pipraich Police Station limits in the early hours of Tuesday after residents learnt about the youthrsquos death Angry villagers blocked the GorakhpurPipraich Road hurled stones at police and led traffic to a standstill The blockade was lifted only after five hours following assurances from senior officialsLate on Monday night 1012 smugglers arrived in two pickup vans and allegedly tried to break open a furniture shop belonging to a man named Durgesh Gupta PTI reported The shops upper floor housed a travel agency where Guptarsquos relative was asleep On hearing the shutters being forced he alerted Guptarsquos son DeepakDeepak rushed to the spot on a scooter raising an alarm Nearly 1015 villagers followed him Startled the smugglers opened fire and tried to flee In the chaos they dragged Deepak into one of their vehicles and sped awayMeanwhile the villagers nabbed one smuggler torched his vehicle and thrashed him severely reported PTIWhen police reached the spot and attempted to rescue the injured man the villagers clashed pelted stones on them Superintendent of Police North Jitendra Srivastava and the Pipraich Station House Officer SHO suffered serious injuries in the clashLater police traced Deepaks bloodsoaked body around 4 km away triggering outrage in the areaUttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took cognisance of the incident and directed senior officers to rush to the spot assuring that the culprits will not be sparedDeputy Inspector General of Police DIG Shiv S Channappa and Senior Superintendent of Police SSP Raj Karan Nayyar met the victims family and promised swift actionDistrict Magistrate Deepak Meena described the incident as extremely tragic and said continuous action was being takenOne accused has been caught We have spoken to the family and their demands have been discussed Whatever assistance can be provided at both local and higher levels will be ensured First the postmortem will be conducted and cremation performed after which we will again hold talks with the family he saidDeepaks grieving mother broke down demanding that her sons killers be given the death penalty Nayyar who camped at the site along with senior officers said the situation was later brought under control with Provincial Armed Constabulary PAC and additional forcesHowever Gupta alleged police negligence claiming that his son could have been saved if authorities had acted promptly The family has demanded Rs 1crore compensation a government job and strict action against both the smugglers and erring police personnelNayyar said that a report on the incident was received around 330 amIt has been discovered that the smugglers had arrived in two pickup vans While one of them was able to flee the spot Deepak had gone after the other vehicleOne of the people from the stuck pickup van was caught by the villagers and he was hospitalised The police immediately reached the spot The youth Deepak received injuries to his head apparently because of which he unfortunately died The autopsy report will confirm it A complaint has been received from the family and further legal actions have been initiated Nayyar told reportersHe said some of the accused have been identified and five police teams are working on the case to quickly apprehend themWith PTI inputs