Demonstrators last month protested the suspected killing of two youths whose relatives said they had been abducted and killed for alleged cow smuggling.
PHOTO: RAJAT GUPTA/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Monu Manesar, the alias of an Indian cow-protection influencer, has spent the past six years documenting his personal war against cattle smugglers on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.

In openly violent posts that often clashed with the platforms’ stated content policies, his accounts livestreamed car chases of men suspected to be transporting beef or cows—an animal deeply revered in Hinduism. He and fellow vigilantes filmed themselves ramming vehicles, shooting out truck tires and trading gunfire with alleged smugglers. The posts included anti-Muslim slurs and trophy photos of captives bleeding from the head.

This story was originally published in wsj.com . Read the full story here