Haryana: Gopal, 35, a Gau rakshak was shot dead at Palwal district in Haryana on Monday. His associates have claimed that he was killed while chasing the cow smugglers, but police have refuted the claim. Haryana Police said that they are investigating the case.

The incident occurred on the Hodal-Nuh Highway, at Palwal district in Haryana.

An FIR was registered by victim's brother Jalvir. It stated that Gopal was an active member of the cow vigilante group. Cattle smugglers held grudge against him. We received information that our brother has been shot on Monday. He was shot at private parts and was bleeding, the FIR said.

It can be noted that the Haryana government amended the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Act of 2015 just a month ago.

Despite Haryana police refusing any cow smuggling link to the case, the Twitterati has attributed it to cow vigilance.

A hashtag #GopalLynched is trending on Twitter. A social media user, Madur wrote: "When a Bike thief gets beaten who later dies of heart attack, he gets 24*7 news coverage and entire nation mourns for him. But, when a Hindu gets killed by cow smuggler for protecting Cows, why do we all go into hibernation?"