Mumbai director held for false complaint of harassment by cow vigilantes

Mumbai: Police in Mumbai on Tuesday arrested city-based creative director Barun Kashyap for false complaint about intimidation by some cow vigilantes over suspicion that he was carrying a bag made of cow-hide.

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

"Since the complaint was of serious nature, a special team had been deputed. We questioned the auto-driver and all other people related to the incident," Mumbai Police spokesperson DCP Ashok Dudhe said.

"Based on the description given by Kashyap, we made a sketch (of the suspect). Following a thorough investigation and collection of all evidence....it came to light that no such incident had taken place," he said.

Kashyap will be produced before a court tomorrow.

On Saturday, police registered a case against 24-year-old Kashyap under the IPC sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 182 (giving false information to a public servant).

In the Facebook post, Kashyap had claimed that on August 20, when he was on his way to the office in Andheri in an auto-rickshaw, the driver inquired about his leather bag, wondering whether it was made of cow-hide.

Kashyap told him that it was of camel-skin, but the driver stopped at a temple and summoned two men. They too grilled him, and finally let him go only because his name sounded Brahmin-like, he had claimed.

The suburban Amboli police who probed the case however found that Kashyap 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.

Meanwhile, AAP leader Preeti Menon today alleged that police sub-inspector Daya Nayak had filed a false case against Kashyap.

She alleged that Nayak and other police officers forced Kashyap to change his statement. Kashyap retracted his original statement because he feared for his life.

DCP Dudhe however refuted the allegation, saying "the probe has been done following legal procedure".