A Class XII student, Aryan Mishra, was shot dead inside a moving car in Haryana on August 23 by cow vigilantes who mistook him for a cattle smuggler, police said on Tuesday.

Last week, a migrant worker from Bengal, Sabir Malik, was lynched in the BJP-ruled state on suspicion of beef-eating, with chief minister Nayab Singh Saini appearing to downplay the incident by refusing to call it “mob lynching” and flagging the state’s cow protection laws.

An inconsolable Siya Nand Mishra, father of the 19-year-old Aryan, on Tuesday said: “The government has given them (cow vigilantes) the licence to kill people on the pretext of being involved in cow smuggling. The (Narendra) Modi government has given this right to them — but why?”

Rahul Gandhi on Sunday flagged hate attacks on Muslims in poll-bound Haryana and Maharashtra — where an elderly man was beaten inside a train on suspicion of possessing beef — accusing the BJP government of giving cow vigilantes “a free hand”.

Muslim organisations have alleged that the “beef” attacks in Haryana and Maharashtra have been planned deliberately to polarise voters ahead of the Assembly polls in these states.

All five accused in the murder of Aryan — Saurabh, Anil Kaushik, Varun, Krishna and Adesh — have been arrested, a senior police officer said.

A probe has revealed that the cow vigilantes had received a tip-off about “cattle smugglers” leaving the city in a Renault Duster and a Toyota Fortuner after picking up cattle from the area, police sources said. Beef and cow slaughter are banned in Haryana.

The accused apparently noticed a Duster near Patel Chowk, Faridabad, in which Aryan was travelling with his friends Shanky and Harshit. The accused chased the car and fired several bullets at it, two of which hit Aryan in the chest and neck, police sources said.

Officers said CCTV footage had revealed the involvement of the accused. The police have registered an FIR invoking offences such as murder, rioting and Arms Act violations.

During interrogation, the accused allegedly said they had mistaken Aryan and his friends to be cattle smugglers and followed their car for about 30km, up to a site close to the Gadhpuri toll plaza on the Delhi-Agranational highway.

“They told the investigating officer that when they asked the victim’s car to stop, the driver accelerated, prompting them to fire. (Aryan) Mishra was shot dead near the Gadhpuri toll plaza in Palwal,” an officer said.

A Faridabad court has remanded all the accused in judicial custody, he said, adding that the illegal weapon and the car used in the crime had been recovered.

Sabir, 23, was beaten to death in Charkhi Dadri district of Haryana on August 27. The following day, the police arrested seven people, including two juveniles, and said they were suspected to have links with cow vigilante groups.

Sabir, a rag-picker, lived with his wife and two-year-old daughter in Hansawas Khurd village. Hours before his death, a group of youths had called the police to the village claiming beef was being cooked and eaten in shanties there.

While the police seized the meat and sent it for testing, the accused allegedly beat Sabirto death.

The Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, the largest Muslim organisation in the country, said Sabir’s lynching had been planned to communalise the October 5 Assembly polls in Haryana.

“This mob violence has proved how communal elements consider themselves above the law and are taking the law into their own hands and targeting a particular community on the basis of religion,” Jamiat chief Maulana Arshad Madani said.

A Jamiat office-bearer said the so-called cow vigilantes belonged to the Bajrang Dal in Haryana and enjoyed the support of local BJP leaders.

“The government has given these vigilantes the licence to kill anyone by branding them cow smugglers, and Aryan Mishra was a victim of this. The hate towards Muslims has blinded them (cow vigilantes) so much that they don’t care before shooting,”he said.

In Maharashtra, where too Assembly elections are expected later this year, a 72-year-old man was abused, beaten and kicked on the Dhule-CSMT Express on suspicion of carrying beef on August 28. The attackers were youngsters travelling for a police recruitment exam.