Mumbai: Twist in case against ‘cow-vigilantes’, complainant booked

In a surprising turn in the investigation of complaint filed against cow-vigilantes by the city-based creative director Barun Kashyap Bhuyan, the police on Saturday said his claim was found to be a fiction.

Police had taken cognisance of the case when Bhuyan's Facebook post describing the incident, where, he said, some persons suspected that he was carrying a bag made from cow-hide and grilled him menacingly, went viral in August.

However, after thorough investigation, it was found that the incident had never happened, a police officer said. Police on Saturday registered a case against 24-year-old Bhuyan under the IPC sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 182 (giving false information to a public servant). He has not been arrested though.

According to a police official, "Around 49 rickshaw drivers were interrogated but none of them matched the details given by the complainant. Besides, Kashyap was also called to identify the rickshaw driver and around 50 drivers were shown to him, but he couldn't find the accused." The police interrogation revealed loopholes in the story of the complainant, but when they expanded their search, they found nothing that matched the story. "We later recorded statements of 13 rickshaw drivers about the incident. However, all of them denied any such incident."

Andheri-resident Bhuyan, who hails from Assam, had claimed that on August 20, when he was on his way to the office in a rickshaw, the driver inquired about his leather bag, wondering whether it was made from cow-hide.

Bhuyan said he told him that it was of camel-skin, but the rickshaw driver then stopped the vehicle at a temple, and called two men sitting there. They too grilled him.
They finally let him go because his name sounded 'Brahmin-like', Bhuyan had said, adding that the rickshaw driver told him before leaving: "Aaj tu bach gaya".
The Amboli police, who probed the case, however found that Bhuyan was at his house when the purported incident took place and he had reached his office within only eight-nine minutes after leaving home that day.
CCTV footage along the route was also examined. Police had also released sketches of the 'suspects'. However the month-long probe did not corroborate Bhuyan's story in any way, police said.

"We have registered an offence against Barun Kashyap Bhuyan and are investigating why he made up this story," said Arun Chavan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, adding that it was suspected that Bhuyan did it only for publicity.

With inputs from Forum Gandhi