A local court on Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant against all the accused, including those absconding, in the Bulandshahr violence case in which two people including a police officer were killed, ANI reported. Investigators told the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Bulandshahr that the accused were trying to influence the inquiry, The Hindu reported.

On December 3, violence broke out after residents had allegedly found carcasses of cattle in the fields of Mahaw village. At least 12 people have been arrested so far in connection with the violence.

The main accused Yogesh Raj, who is Bajrang Dal’s Bulandshahr convenor, is among the accused who are absconding. “The accused are trying to spoil communal harmony by making videos of the incident viral and attempting to influence evidence,” The Hindu quoted the investigators’ application as saying. The police had said that an Army jawan was also among the accused.

A police officer said the accused include Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha’s Bulandshahr city president Shikhar Agarwal and and former head of Mahav village Raj Kumar. The investigators had identified 21 accused persons in the first information report and had added six others to the list.

Prabhakar Chaudhary, Bulandshahr’s senior superintendent of police, told ANI that the department will announce a reward for information on the absconding accused if they are unable to arrest them soon.

The police had filed a separate FIR against seven Muslims, including two children, for cow slaughter. The police had also said that catching “cow killers”, and not the dead inspector’s killers, were their top priority.