Police had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for information leading to the arrest of the accused.Nearly three weeks after it arrested three women after a raid on a house in Kaushambi’s Sarai Akil area over allegations of cow slaughter and cooking of beef, police have made more arrests in connection with the case following an “encounter”.According to police, they received information that the accused were hiding in an orchard. When they reached the spot, the suspects opened fire, police said, and in the exchange, Mohammad Arshad alias Cheddan sustained a bullet injury to his leg. Three other suspects, Sunne alias Iliyas Khan, Nafees and Fakrul, were arrested, while two of the accused managed to escape, police said.Kaushambi Circle Officer Shivank Singh said a forensic report from a laboratory in Mathura had confirmed that the meat samples seized during the June 24 raid from Arshad’s house in Kaushambi were that of beef. The accused have been booked under various provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act at Sarai Akil Police Station in Kaushambi.The three women who were held during the June 24 raid, Shama Parveen, Shaista and Fatima, are related to Arshad, who has six previous criminal cases registered against him, the last of them in 2016. All four are residents of Panara Gopalpur village.The other two held are from the neighbouring villages of Khanpur Pathanpurwa and Khopa. Police said Nafees and Fakrul’s names had come up during the course of the investigation.The absconding accused are the husbands of Shaista and Fatima, identified as Irfan and Badkau.Police had announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for information leading to the arrest of the accused.Story continues below this adOfficials said they raided Arshad’s house based on a tip-off that beef was being cooked there. When they reached the spot, police said, several men ran out of the house and fled, and they arrested the three women present.Panara Gopalpur is a village of about 6,000 residents with a mixed population, and located around 30 km from the Kaushambi district headquarters.Sushil Pathak, a “representative” of Panara Gopalpur sarpanch Cheedi Lal, said Arshad had previously been accused of cattle smuggling but had recently switched to trading goats. Expressing surprise at the allegations against the family, Pathak said their relatives who also live in the area are caring for the children of the women.The relatives could not be contacted.