The CPM on Saturday asked the Rajasthan government to take a firm stand against cow-protection vigilantes and alerted it to the alleged complicity of Haryana police in the suspicious deaths of two Muslim men from Bharatpur district.

Junaid, 35, and Nasir, 27, were found charred to death in their SUV in Haryana’s Bhiwani district — more than four hours by road from their home — on Thursday. A delegation led by politburo member Brinda Karat and Rajasthan state secretary Amra Ram met the families of the deceased on Friday.

They said in a statement: “The manufactured narrative is that dairy farmers and cattle traders who belong to the Muslim community are actually not dairy farmers but cow slaughterers…

“During the previous BJP regime in Rajasthan, in November 2017, a resident of this village, Umar Khan, a cattle trader, was shot dead by gau rakshaks. This was a few months after the brutal killing of dairy farmer Pehlu Khan. The family of Umar Khan is yet to get justice. The village apprehends that the same fate awaits the families of Junaid and Nasir.”

The CPM added: “Their apprehensions are justified. The FIR filed is on the charge of kidnapping, and the charge of murder is yet to be included. Those named in the FIR include the notorious Mohit Yadav, known as Monu Manesar, who operates with impunity in the region with the approval of the BJP government in Haryana. The burnt car and bodies were found in village Barvas, Loharu in the Bhiwani district of Haryana. So, the Haryana police, which has been complicit in providing patronage to the activities of the gau rakshaks, is to be involved with the investigation.”

Yadav, a district coordinator of the Bajrang Dal in Bhiwani, has denied his or his organisation’s involvement in the incident in a recorded video. The FIR on charges of abduction lodged by relatives on Wednesday cites information from unknown sources who witnessed the duo being assaulted and abducted in Bharatpur’s Gopalgarh area. The complaint names six people identified by unknown locals as Bajrang Dal activists, including Manesar and one Rinku Saini of Haryana’s Ferozepur Jhirka. Saini has been arrested.

In 2017-18, at least four cow-protection-related murders took place in Rajasthan’s districts bordering BJP-ruled Haryana. Trade in cattle is regulated under the Rajasthan Bovine Animal (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export) Act, 1995, and the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act, 2015, in the neighbouring state.

These are often enforced by armed vigilante “gau rakshak dals” —who have official sanction in Haryana where they are part of district cow-protection task forces. The CPM said it would ask Rajasthan chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot to ensure the immediate arrest of all those named in the FIR, as well as compensation of Rs 50 lakh to each of the victim families, and employment assistance.

The CPM added: “The policy and patronage of the Haryana government and police in protecting the criminal activities of the so-called gau rakshak gangs must be held responsible. The Rajasthan government must also immediately probe the role of the Rajasthan police in this case.”

The Rajasthan police have stated that Junaid had five pending cases of cow smuggling against Junaid. The CPM has called these “false cases filed by a vindictive (previous BJP) government to justify the spate of incidents of violence against cattle farmers and traders by the gau rakshak gangs”.