KMP chase: Smugglers dump cattle from speeding truck

Police personnel and a cow protection force team were involved in a high-speed chase of suspected cattle smugglers on the Kundli–Manesar–Palwal (KMP) expressway on Saturday morning for nearly two hours, with the suspects attempting to evade the authorities by driving on the wrong side of the busy highway, officials aware of the case said on Sunday.

The suspected cattle smugglers, in an attempt to escape, even pushed cattle out of the moving pick-up truck, police said. Eventually, the driver of the pick-up lost control of his vehicle, causing it to crash, officers said, adding that he was nabbed from the spot and later arrested.

The other suspects in the vehicle managed to escape, police said.

A video of the incident, shot by a member of the cow protection force team, emerged on social media, in which the pick-up of the suspects — on the wrong side of the road — is chased by at least two other vehicles. In the video, the suspects purportedly push out at least three cattle from the vehicle, even as the vehicles chasing them swerve to avoid hitting the animals.

Police identified the arrested man as Zafar Khan, a resident of Tauru. He is currently admitted to hospital. Police said among the suspects who managed to escape was a man they identified only as Advani, who is a known cattle thief, and is an accused in at least 50 cases involving cattle smuggling.

Police said the chase began when a group of cow vigilantes received a tip-off at around 3.30am on Saturday about a group of cattle smugglers transporting cattle from Badli in Jhajhar to Nuh.

Cow vigilante Abhishek Gaur, in a police complaint, said his cattle protection team identified and started chasing the suspects on the KMP expressway near the Pukharpur toll booth, and in a bid to escape, the suspects started driving on the wrong side of the road.

“During the chase, three cattle were thrown from the moving vehicle. The pick-up driver lost control and collided with the divider near Bilaspur, and Zafar was injured. However, notorious cow smuggler Advani managed to escape,” said assistant commissioner of police (crime) Varun Dahiya.

A first information report regarding the incident was filed at the Bilaspur police station on Saturday evening, and police said that a further probe is on.