"We have identified five persons on the basis of messages and pictures flashedby some youths when they captured the five alleged cow smugglers," DSP Yogesh Rotla said.
Police teams have been sent to suspected hideouts but all the accused have switchedoff their phones, Rotla said, adding that as the accused are locals, they would benabbed soon.
The police have detained six others for questioning on the basis of information afterthe incident and their past antecedents are being verified, DGP Sanjay Kumar said.
28-year-old Noman Akhtar, a resident of Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was lynched by a mob on October 16 while his four accomplices were apprehended by police with the help of local people after nearly four hours of chase of the truck carrying ten oxen and five cows in the forests in Sirmaur district, about 150 km from Shimla.
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The incident happened close on the heels of Dadri lynching and drew criticisms, with Vishwa Hindu Parishad blaming the government for "failure" to checksmuggling of cows, oxen and other animals to adjoining districts of Uttar Pradesh.
However, the state's Animal Husbandry Minister Anil Sharma said that the government was committed to protect cows and other cattle, but it was the task of the police to check smuggling of animals.
Expressing concern over the incident, the All-Himachal Muslim Welfare Society has urged the Chief Ministerto order a probe into incident.
"No one was abovethe Constitution anda probe should also be initiated by the Deputy Commissioner, Sirmaur and those involved in this ghastly act of lynching a youth, should be arrested immediately," Naseem Mohammed Diddan, president of the Society said in a statement.