Bareilly (UP) (PTI): Four cow smugglers were arrested following an encounter in which a constable and a cow smuggler were injured in this Uttar Pradesh district, police said on Saturday.

The encounter took place in the Baheri police station area on Friday, they said, adding that both the injured men have been admitted to a hospital.

Superintendent of Police (Rural) Rajkumar Aggarwal said following incidents of cow slaughter in Akha and Sakras villages of Baheri, police picked up four people from Akha and they confessed to their role in cow slaughter.

Subsequently, accompanied by one of the arrested cow smugglers, Manzoor Ahmed, police reached Akha on Friday to recover the tools used by them. On the pretext of getting the tools, which he claimed were buried in a field, the accused took out a pistol and fired at the police, leaving constable Ritu Raj injured in the hand.

Police fired at Ahmed when he tried to run away and he suffered a leg injury.

The injured constable and cow smuggler were taken to a community health centre (CHC), from where they were referred to the Bareilly Headquarters Hospital.

Police have seized the tools used for cow slaughter from Akha, the SP said, adding that the arrested men are being interrogated thoroughly.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



New Delhi, Sep 24: The Congress on Tuesday cited BJP MP Kangana Ranaut's purported remarks on farm laws to allege that the ruling party was making efforts to bring back the three laws that were repealed in 2021, and asserted that Haryana will give a befitting reply to it.

The Congress shared on X an undated video of Ranaut in which she is purportedly saying in Hindi, "Farm laws that have been repealed should be brought back. I think this may get controversial. The laws in farmers' interest be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring farm laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity.

"Farmers are a pillar of strength in India's progress. Only in some states, they had objected to farm laws. I appeal with folded hands that farm laws should be brought back in the interest of farmers."

In a post in Hindi along with the video, the Congress said, "The three black laws imposed on farmers should be brought back: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut has said this. More than 750 farmers of the country were martyred, only then did the Modi government wake up and these black laws were withdrawn."

Now BJP MPs are planning to bring back these laws, the Congress alleged.

"The Congress is with the farmers. These black laws will never return, no matter how hard Narendra Modi and his MPs try," the opposition party said on X.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also shared the video of Ranaut on X and said, "'All three farm laws should be brought back': BJP MP Kangana Ranaut. More than 750 farmers were martyred while protesting against the three black farmer laws. Efforts are being made to bring them back."

"We will never let that happen. Haryana will answer first," she said in an apparent reference to the assembly polls in Haryana.

Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera also shared the video on X and said it was the BJP's "real thinking".

"How many times will you deceive the farmers, you two-faced people?" Khera said in a post in Hindi.

The three laws -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act; The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.

The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws. The legislations came into force in June 2020 and were repealed in November 2021.