A group of alleged cow smugglers today opened fire on police early in the morning today before leaving their vehicle and escaping when the cops gave them a chase.
"When police, at a barricade at Dharuhera, signalled a pick-up vehicle, laden with smuggled cows, in the early hours today, the cow smugglers not only opened fire on the police personnel and attempted to kill them, but they damaged a police vehicle as well," a police official said.
When the police pursued them, all the five cow smugglers abandoned the pick-up and managed to escape in the darkness, he said.
Police impounded the vehicle. Ten cows in it were taken out and were being sent to a Gaushala (cow shelters) at Boodhi Bawal village in Alwar district of Rajasthan, he said, adding that one cow had died of suffocation.
The police official said the cows were being taken from Rajasthan to Delhi for butchery.
A case of attempt to murder, assault, and under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the Arms Act, has been registered against the absconding cow smugglers, he said.
