Mohammed Shami's father claims 'cow slaughter' charge being used to target family

Shami's brother Haseeb allegedly scuffled with sub-inspector Pradeep Bhardwaj, preventing the arrest an accused.

New Delhi: Indian pacer Mohammed Shami's father, Tauseef Ahmad, on Friday claimed that his family was in 'danger' as they were being targeted for 'gau hatya'.

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His comments appeared in a Times of India report a day after his son Mohammad Haseeb (brother of Shami) was arrested and then subsequently released on bail for allegedly assaulting a police officer on duty.

Haseeb was also accused of 'pressuring cops' to release a group of men arrested on charges of cow slaughter.

“My son was not even present there at the time of the incident. He reached the site much later,” Tauseef Ahmad told TOI.

“He (Haseeb) was just an onlooker. He was unnecessarily dragged into the controversy . It is just that a few people are nurturing enmity with our family because of the publicity we have got after Shami started playing for team India. I had reported the issue to the DM a month ago. This (the arrest) is a result of that. A term like 'cow slaughter' is being used to target us,” he further added.

Ved Prakash, Amroha district magistrate, said that Ahmad had met him a month ago.

“He came with a complaint that someone was threatening his family on phone. But he did not say who they were,” Prakash said.

Station officer of Didoli, Praveen Kumar, on Thursday got a tip-off about a certain Rizwan Ahmad wanted in a cow slaughter case.

When Kumar's team reached the site, Haseeb allegedly scuffled with sub-inspector Pradeep Bhardwaj, preventing the arrest of the accused who eventually fled.

Bhardwaj's uniform was torn as a result of the scuffle with Haseeb.

“Haseeb stopped the police vehicle which was carrying the accused. When the sub-inspector and constables confronted him, Haseeb became violent. We filed an FIR on charges of rioting, promoting enmity between groups and causing hurt to deter public servant from doing his duty among others. However, due to ill-health, he was given bail,” Kumar said.