Cow vigilantes run extortion rackets at check posts: beef traders allege

Chennai: The right-wing groups are making money on the sly, cashing in on their violent opposition to beef eating by extorting money from cow traders, according to a report on The News Minute.

Cow traders in Tamil Nadu alleging that right groups stop trucks carrying cows at border areas between the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh demanding money for trucks to cross borders.

In one instance traders in Tamil Nadu who buy cows from Andhra markets complain that their trucks are being stopped at Arumbakkam in the Thiruvallur district.

Calling out the extortion, beef traders protested under the banner of the Republic Trade Union of India, an Ambedkarite organization, alongside the Tamil Nadu Beef Traders Association on October 10 at Chennai beach road.

Traders allege that their complaints to the state government fall on deaf ears.

Beef traders as per the report by TNM allege that they have been harassed by an extortion network colluding with the police.

A beef trader based in Chennai reportedly said that armed men of right-wing Hindu groups demand at least Rs 10,000 from each truck at borders.

If failed to pay, traders would face trumped-up cases alongside the seizure of their cattle.

Another trader by the name of Jhavid reportedly said that right-wing groups issued tokens at the toll gates in the Arumbakkam or Elavur (also in the Thiruvallur district).

This meant that trucks that have paid the money for ferrying cows could pass through further check posts on the way.

"Only if we have those tokens do police let us through, otherwise they take the cows away to gaushalas. There is a targeted attack on beef — a food that is eaten by Muslim, Christian and Dalit people," he was quoted as saying.

More about the token system in the report say that the alleged token is issued in the name of an organisation called 'Thirumurugan Lorry Owner's Association.

Anbuvendan, who is the president of the Tamil Nadu Beef Traders Association, said that traders pay between Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000 to agents at the check posts.

Agents would give tokens and often also an escort to ensure the lorry passed all police checkpoints unstopped.

Beef traders and lorry drivers complained umpteen times to the police about the extortion ring working in the border areas.

One trader, in August, complained to the Perundurai police in Erode district alleging that members of the Hindu Makkal Katchi stopped him at the Erode Bypass as he was on his way to Pollachi in Coimbatore district.

Eight men forced him out of his lorry when he was taking calves to a farm to rear, asking him to pay Rs 2 lakh in order to travel further.

Alongside extortion of money, the right wings groups frequently lodge complaints against beef traders on charges of torturing animals, according to the report.

Raghuram Sharma, who is the Tamil Nadu state head of the Gau Raksha Dal hailing from Thiruvallur district, filed multiple complaints against cow traders.