Hyderabad: ‘Cow vigilantes’ raid truck, find plywood instead of cattle, vandalize it anyway

On May 16, around midnight, a group of self-proclaimed cow vigilantes in Gudimalkapur in suburban Hyderabad raided a truck on suspicion that it was illegally transporting cattle. However, when the vehicle was stopped, it was found to be carrying plywood. Despite this, the mob allegedly vandalised the truck and pelted stones at it, injuring at least three people, including the driver, Rasul Sheikh, his brother and a police officer.

On May 18, Gudimalkapur police registered an attempt to murder case against the alleged cow vigilantes. Separately, based on Rasul’s complaint filed on May 17, another first information report (FIR) was registered at the Tappachabutra police station.

FIR Against 10 Unidentified Individuals

Alt News accessed a copy of the FIR filed at the Tappachabutra police station. According to the complaint, 58-year-old Rasul Sheikh, a resident of Maharashtra’s Beed district, was transporting plywood from Chennai to Hyderabad for one Jameel Qureshi. Rasul was driving a Maharashtra-registered truck and was accompanied by his brother, Afsar Sheikh, who worked as the cleaner of the vehicle.

The two had left Chennai on May 15 and reached Noman Trading Company in Hyderabad around 11:45 pm on May 16. However, because of an obstruction near the store that prevented parking, Rasul parked the truck by the roadside near the Royal Sea Hotel.

The FIR states that shortly thereafter, 10-12 individuals forcefully stopped the vehicle and demanded to know what the truck was carrying. As a crowd gathered, an altercation broke out. Around 12:05 am, police arrived at the spot and dispersed the crowd.

AIMIM MLA Majid Hussain also reached the scene and sat inside the truck with Rasul. He later staged a protest outside the office of the deputy commissioner of police (DCP), Golconda zone, along with a group of supporters.

Speaking to the media, Hussain criticised the police response and said they should have pacified the crowd instead of appearing nervous, which, according to him, worsened the situation. He also stressed that there should be no “balancing act” by filing cases against both sides.

“Here, one side did not engage in any wrongful activity; they have been telling the police since the start that they were carrying plywood. If the police do not keep these things in mind, the public will have no faith in the police,” he said.

 

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The FIR names 10 unidentified persons and invokes Sections 189(2) (being a member of an unlawful assembly), 126(2) (wrongful restraint), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), and Section 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), which deals with acts committed by several individuals in furtherance of a common intention.

Alt News reached out to Rasul Sheikh, who was driving the truck and was injured when the cow vigilantes attacked. As per his account, the gau rakshaks chased the truck even after the police had intervened and had instructed Rasul to drive it to the police station. The vigilantes, whom Rasul referred to as kids/young boys, vandalised the truck and injured Rasul, Afsar and a policeman in the process.

“I had loaded plywood from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, which was supposed to be delivered to a store in Hyderabad, and we had reached the spot by 11 pm. But the store said that we would be unloading the plywood later, since there was a function going on near the shop and the road was blocked. So, we parked at one place, as we had to sleep in the truck, and wait for it to be unloaded in the morning. Then, suddenly, 3-4 kids came and started questioning about what was inside the truck, and they enquired if we were carrying cows. We clarified that it is only plywood. Then, I saw them speaking to someone on the phone, and suddenly, 10-12 more individuals showed up. They climbed up the truck, tore the tarpaulin cover apart and started throwing the plywood materials on the ground,” Rasul said.

He further stated, “At this point, a police van approached the scene and told me to drive the truck to the police station. I clarified to them that I am carrying plywood, and if they wanted to check, then they could do it here only, and then the matter can be quickly resolved. But, they made me drive the truck to the police station. As we were driving towards the police station, more individuals started gathering. They were chanting ‘Jai Sri Ram’ and throwing stones at the truck. A few of them also sat in front of the truck and threw stones, which broke the windshield and the broken shards of glass injured me, my brother and a police officer who was sitting with us in the truck. They threw the plywood on the road and attempted to vandalise the truck, which caused us a lot of monetary loss.”

In an interview with HN10 News, injuries on Rasul’s face are clearly visible.

Videos from the incident show several men climbing onto the truck and throwing plywood sheets onto the road, while others standing below can be seen pelting stones at the vehicle.

Hyderabad: Vi0lence erupted in #Gudimalkapur area on Saturday night after #cow vigilantes stopped a container truck suspecting cattle smuggling. #Police later confirmed it was carrying only cardboard and plywood. The incident triggered a confrontation and stone pelting between… pic.twitter.com/zo6xGqJox9

— MuslimMirror.com (@MuslimMirror) May 17, 2026

“After some time, MLA Majid Hussain arrived at the police station, and that is when they (cow vigilantes) fled from there. MLA sahaab then sat in my lorry with me and helped us bring back our truck. Then, the next morning, on May 17, I drove the truck to the store where the plywood was supposed to be unloaded and went to file the complaint. I left the same evening for home and got back to Beed,” Rasul told Alt News.

“I have been driving trucks for 33-35 years now, and till now, no such thing has taken place. The police could have stopped them (cow vigilantes) from vandalising the truck and from attacking us, but they did not, even though there was no cattle in the truck. MLA Hussain has saved our lives”, he added.

Police Action

According to a report by The Siasat Daily, apart from the FIR registered on Rasul’s complaint at the Tappachabutra police station, another FIR was filed at Gudimalkapur police station against five individuals, including one Sai, whom police identified as the head of the gau rakshaks involved in the incident.

The accused have been booked under Sections 109(1) (attempt to murder), 189(4) (unlawful assembly), 191(3) (aggravated rioting), 121(1) (voluntarily causing hurt to a public servant), 324(4) (mischief), and 126(2) read with 3(5) (wrongful restraint) of the BNS. All five accused are currently absconding.

The report further stated that police are also registering another case against those who organised an unlawful protest outside the office of the DCP, Golconda zone.

Alt News contacted the Gudimalkapur SHO, who said that while the five accused had been identified, they were still absconding. The SHO added that the investigation had not yet established whether they belonged to any organised gau raksha group.

Alt News also spoke to L Raju, the senior inspector and investigating officer at Tappachabutra police station handling Rasul’s complaint. “Some of the individuals have been identified by the Gudimalkapur police station, and we are also trying to identify more of them based on the videos of the incident. But it has been difficult to identify them so far because the lighting is very bad. Once they are identified, we will be able to investigate if they were part of any groups,” he said.