At least 4 FIRs say Srikant (left) and Lokesh Singhla are police informers
Three of the five cow vigilantes who allegedly killed two Muslim men in Haryana worked as police informers to crack down on cattle smuggling, according to four first information reports, or FIRs, from previous cases.
The five men are Anil, Srikant, Rinku Saini, Lokesh Singhla and Mohit Yadav alias Monu Manesar.
Of these, Rinku Saini, Lokesh Singhla and Srikant used to accompany Haryana Police teams during raids on cattle smugglers, according to the FIRs.
In four FIRs of cow smuggling cases accessed by NDTV, the Haryana Police declared the three men who face murder cases as their "informers".
The burnt bodies of the two Muslim men, Nasir and Junaid, were found in a Mahindra Bolero SUV last Thursday in Haryana's Bhiwani district. The police are investigating whether cow vigilantism was the reason behind the murders. The police have said Junaid faced five cases of cow smuggling. Nasir had no criminal record.
In a cow smuggling case filed in January, the Haryana Police had taken Lokesh Singhla with them during a raid.
The four FIRs are from Firozpur Jhirka police station in Haryana's Mewat.
The two Muslim men from Rajasthan were first taken to the cops while still alive, police sources told NDTV on Saturday last. They said Nasir and Junaid were attacked by four men after being suspected of smuggling cows.
Rinku Saini, a taxi driver and member of the cow vigilante group, told investigators they took the two Muslim men to Firozpur Jhirka police station.
They said Saini and his group wanted Haryana Police to arrest Junaid and Nasir on charges of cow smuggling, but seeing the condition of the two half-dead men, the policemen at the station asked them to leave.
Not long after, Junaid and Nasir died from their injuries. The terrified group of cow vigilantes then contacted their friends to discuss how to dispose of the bodies, sources said.
They finally decided to take their Bolero SUV and both the bodies to Bhiwani, 200 km away. On Thursday morning, both the bodies, along with the vehicle, were doused in petrol and set alight, police sources said.
According to Saini, they hoped that no one would be able to trace the bodies and the burnt vehicle back to them if they burnt it far away from the scene of the crime. However, Junaid and Nasir were identified from the chassis number of the Bolero.