Jaipur: In just about two weeks, there have been three incidents of suspected cow smugglers successfully escaping from cops and out of which in two the accused also exchanged fire with the police in Mewat region.

The latest was reported in Bharatpur district around 2am Monday morning, while the previous two were in Alwar district. In Nadbai (Bharatpur), suspected cow smugglers broke past the police barricading and fired to escape when one of their five vehicles transporting cattle overturned. All the accused managed to flee .

Ramkishan Yadav, SHO, Nadbai police station told TOI, “There was no prior information regarding these alleged smugglers who broke past the barricades. When the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) gave chase, the cow smugglers who were in a total of five vehicles speeded up. One of the vehicles also overturned and to help their accomplices in escaping, the accused fired at the police. Although we retaliated, they escaped.”

Two cows also died and few others injured which were the ones in the overturned vehicle.

On September 22, Munafed Khan 24-year-old man, who was allegedly smuggling cows, was beaten up by villagers in Alwar’s Shahjahanpur. A native of Tijara, had initially evaded police barricades but was caught by locals who thrashed him and fractured his hand.

Just a week after this incident, there was an exchange of fire between Alwar police and suspected cow smugglers after a pickup truck transporting cattle broke past police barricades. Although cops rescued 15 bovines, none of the suspected smugglers were caught.

Police claim that such incidents continue to happen because the alleged smugglers see only this as form of earning and an official added,”they do not see any alternative to earning a living and while we refrain from firing at locals, the suspected smugglers have no qualms about injuring anyone who comes in their way which is why they do not fear breaking past police barricades.”

