The price of negligence: MBBS student’s life was taken by a hole that was not covered despite repeated requests

A 19-year-old boy, studying in Class 12 in Haryana’s Faridabad, was chased in a car and shot dead by a group of five cow vigilantes who allegedly mistook him for a cattle smuggler, police said on Tuesday.

A Duster car in which the boy, Aryan Mishra, and his friends Harshit and Shanky as well as two other women seated in the back of the vehicle, was chased by the members of cow vigilante group on the night of August 23 for about 30 kilometers near Haryana’s Gadhpuri on the Delhi-Agra National Highway.

Police have identified and arrested all the five accused – Saurabh, Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna and Adesh. A report by Hindustan Times quoted police sources as saying that the weapon used to kill the victim was illegal.

All the five accused cow vigilantes were grilled by the cops who revealed that they had received information that on the night of August 23, some suspected cattle “smugglers” were carrying out surveillance in the city in Renault Duster and Toyota Fortuner and picking up cattle in the area.  

The accused also claimed they were told that the alleged cattle smugglers had also called their associates  to pick up cows in a truck from isolated areas in the city.  

The cow vigilantes, who were also in a car, spotted a Duster at Patel Chowk in which Aryan Mishra was seated with his friends.  

The vehicle was being driven by Harshit and was stopped by the accused, but they instead accelerated, following which they opened fire and a bullet hit Aryan Mishra, who was seated in the passenger seat, near his neck.  

After Aryan was shot, Harshit pulled over the SUV near the Gadhpuri toll in Palwal, but the attackers approached and fired another shot into Aryan Mishra’s chest, resulting in his death.

The accused saw the women in the car and realised that they had shot a wrong person after which they fled.  

Police said despite being asked to stop, Harshit sped the vehicle as Shanky, who was also in the car, was recently involved in a dispute with a man and a case had been registered against him. They thought goons were sent to kill them.

With the SUV not stopping and instead running away, the cow vigilantes thought the cattle smugglers were in it and they started to chase the vehicle which broke through the barrier at the Palwal toll plaza.  

The accused have been sent to judicial custody after being presented in a city court.

New Delhi: A man who recently travelled from a country experiencing mpox transmission has tested positive for the disease, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

"The previously suspected case of mpox has been verified as a travel-related infection. Laboratory testing has confirmed the presence of mpox virus of the West African clade-2 in the patient," it said.

The ministry said that it is an isolated case, similar to the earlier 30 cases reported in India from July 2022 onwards. It is not a part of the current public health emergency reported by WHO which is regarding clade 1 of mpox, it underlined.

"The individual, a young male who recently travelled from a country experiencing ongoing mpox transmission, is currently isolated at a designated tertiary care isolation facility. The patient remains clinically stable and is without any systemic illness or comorbidities," the ministry said.

The case aligns with earlier risk assessments and continues to be managed according to established protocols, it said, adding that public health measures, including contact tracing and monitoring, are actively in place to ensure the situation is contained.

"There is no indication of any widespread risk to the public at this time," the health ministry stated.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) last month declared mpox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for the second time in view of its prevalence and spread across many parts of Africa.

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Friday joined the Congress ahead of the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls and will be the candidate from Julana. Along with Phogat, Bajrang Punia also joined the party.

Meanwhile, Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh took a jibe at the wrestlers saying, "God has punished them for cheating."

"Haryana is the crown of India in the field of sports. And they stopped the wrestling activities for almost 2.5 years. Is it not true that Bajrang went to the Asian Games without trials? I want to ask those who are experts in wrestling. I want to ask Vinesh Phogat whether a player can give trials in 2 weight categories in a day? Can the trials be stopped for 5 hours after the weigh-in?... You did not win the wrestling, you went there by cheating. God has punished you for the same, " Brij Bhushan said, as reported by ANI.

Additionally he also called out Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda.

"I am not guilty of disrespecting daughters. If anyone is guilty of disrespecting daughters, it is Bajrang and Vinesh. And the one who wrote the script, Bhupinder Hooda is responsible for that. If they (BJP) will ask me (to campaign in the Haryana polls), I can go. One day Congress will have to regret it...," he said.

Both Phogat and Punia met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence before officially joining the party at an event at headquarters in the presence of General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal.

Vinesh Phogat, who defied several odds to make the final of the women’s freestyle 50 kg event of the Paris Olympics, was disqualified after being overweight by a few grams.

Now, Olympians Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers' protest against former WFI chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress with a vow of "not being scared or backing off".

Hours after joining the Congress, Punia was appointed as the working chairman of the All India Kisan Congress. It seems unlikely now that he would be fielded in the polls.

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.