Video grab shows a man being thrashed by mob in Kota.

KOTA: A video of two ‘suspected cow smugglers’ being thrashed by a mob has gone viral, further triggering the row of lynching of innocent people in the name of cow smuggling.

Two persons, identified as Praveen Tiwari, a dairy owner from Devas area in Madhya Pradesh and Ahmad Ali, a truck driver from Jaipur, were on the intervening night of July 17 and 18, thrashed by a mob of around 40 people near Nayagaun toll plaza under RK Puram police station in Kota.

Praveen Tiwari, who had purchased seven ‘Jercy’ cows for Rs 2.25 lakhs from the Chomu area in Jaipur, was transporting the cattle with Ahmad Ali, to his hometown on a truck. The truck was hired from Jaipur for Rs 28,000 when the two were caught by a mob that suspected them to be cow smugglers and despite repeated pleas by the victims of being a dairy farmer and a truck driver and not cow smugglers, they were thrashed severely.

In the video that went viral on Monday, the two are shown being severely thrashed by the mob. The mob even threatened the duo of chopping off their legs. The mob is heard questioning the duo as to where was the fodder for the cows in the truck if the cows were indeed for use in a dairy farm.

The duo were however saved after some passer-by informed the police that arrived there and rescued them.

RK Puram station police later on July 20 arrested five persons identified as Yogesh Kumar, Arjun Daver, Naresh Kumar alias Nikku, Arjun Patona and Ajay Hari, who were on July 21 produced before the court and sent to judicial custody. “Four other accused in the matter have been identified as Yogesh Bansal, Rajesh, Vishnu Pareta and Ravishankar Pareta and are absconding. Some of them are toll plaza employees,” said ASI Rafiquddin. Raids are on, at suspected locations to nab the other accused while the victims, after undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kota, have been discharged and have returned to their homes.



In Video: On cam: Cow vigilantes brutally thrash two men in Rajasthan