Men ‘throw stones at police, escape with stolen cows’ in Valsad

She raised an alarm and woke up her son-in-law, Babubhai Patel, who spotted six youths trying to escape with the cows. Babubhai and Hasmukh tried to go near the vehicle but four persons seated on the carrier of the vehicle allegedly threw stones at them, police said.

Babubhai then called up Valsad district police control room and informed about the incident. An alert was sounded and Kaprada police reached the house. A team, led by sub-inspector DR Bhadarka carried out a patrolling and alerted all the check posts.

After getting information about the pickup van coming towards Karjun village, a police team, comprising Nanaponda police station sub-inspector R J GAmit, Kaprada SI Bhadarka and others, tried to intercept the vehicle.

However, the driver of pickup van accelerated and hit the police van when Gamit and Bhadarka fired one round each from their service revolver. The van driver escaped, while four men who were seated on the carrier allegedly threw stones on the police team. The police team chased the pickup van but failed to catch the accused, they said.

Two policemen — Yogesh Mahal and Vasant Raut — were injured in the stone-pelting and were taken to Nana Ponda government hospital, where their condition is stable, police said.

Babubhai Patel lodged complaint against six unknown youths for theft of two cows worth Rs 25,000 with Nanapoda police station, following which an offence was registered under Indian Penal Code section 379.

Another complaint was filed by SI Bhadarka with Kaprada police station against unknown persons travelling in a pickup van under IPC section 307, 332, 279, 114.

Talking to the Indian Express, Bharka said, “The theft took place around 1 am on Wednesday and around 5.30 am, we got information on the vehicle passing through Karjun village road. We tried to intercept the vehicle but it rammed the police vehicle parked on the road, with men on it throwing stones at us. We warned them and later fired on the tyre of the vehicle. As it was dark, we missed the target. We chased the pickup van but could not locate it nor could we get its registration number. As per Babubhai Patel, they were speaking Marathi. Further investigation is on.”