Six men were assaulted by unidentified men in outer Delhi’s Baba Haridas Nagar for carrying buffalo calves in pick-up trucks late on Saturday.
The victims were 40-year-old Ali Jaan and his brother Salim along with their children 26-year-old Shokeen, 22-year-old Dilashan, 15-year-old Saif Ali and 32-year-old Kaala. They belonged to Uttar Pradesh.
According to deputy commissioner of police (outer Delhi) MN Tiwari, Shokeen, who was driving one of the vehicles told the police that he had loaded 17 buffalo calves from Maham in Haryana and was going to Ghazipur to deliver them to the buffalo market with his brother and other relatives, when they were attacked.
At about 8 pm when they reached Gitanjali Enclave in Baba Haridas Nagar, three to four people stopped their vehicle and an argument ensued.
Mohd Raees, who was on one of the trucks, recalled the incident as “scary".
We were not even carrying cows but still we were attacked. Transportation of buffalos has been our business for ages but we have never faced such a situation before. For a moment, we felt that we would be killed. They were hurling abuses and were not ready to listen to us.Raees
He said they tried to tell the attackers that they had all the documents in place and were not carrying the buffaloes illegally but they acted like “maniacs”.
"There was chaos all around. There was a large gathering and they were assaulting us with fists and sticks. They even thrashed the poor animals who started running helter-skelter. The attackers also took away the mobile phones and belongings of some of the people in the truck," he said.
He said he somehow managed to run away to the nearby fields before he informed the police about the incident.
Raees said the police reached the spot in 15-20 minutes but the attackers had fled by then. Police said that the victims received minor injuries and have been discharged from the hospital.
Efforts are on to identify the accused.
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