Punjab police busted an illegal slaughterhouse at Dhariwal locality in Gurdaspur district on Monday, where 11 accused were arrested for killing cows in a cruel way by hitting their heads with hammers.
Notably, about 10 days back Punjab governor Banwari Lal Purohit had launched a cow protection awareness campaign in Ludhiana to encourage people to adopt cows in gaushalas.
On Monday night a team of 40 police personnel and officials raided the illegal slaughterhouse on the instruction of Gurdaspur SSP Dr Nanak Singh. The slaughterhouse is located at a place between Kalyanpur and Bandesh village. When the police team reached here, they found three dead cows with head injuries caused by a blunt object. On further search, police personnel discovered an injured cow and rescued four cows.
The accused had tied these cows through nostrils and legs. Raid continued for three hours amid unbearable smells during which police also recovered unprocessed beef besides a huge quantity of offal and a pile of bones. Evidence suggested that slaughtering was going here for a long time.
Among the arrested accused is Niyamat Masih and his son Ravi from Tarijanagar of Dhaliwal, the masterminds of the cow slaughtering. Other accused were identified as Vicky Masih, Ravi, Thomas Masih, Jaisam Masih, Johnny and Balkar Masih from Dhariwal locality. The remaining three accused Wasim, Nasak and Tanveer are said to be residents of Nanajuta village of Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
They have been booked under sections of Prevention of Cruelty Act 1960, Punjab Prohibition of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955 and sections 295, 428 and 429 of IPC. Police recovered hammers, knives and other sharp-edged weapons from their possession. All accused have been forwarded to judicial custody.
The injured cow was rushed to a local veterinary hospital for treatment whereas police forwarded the dead cows for postmortem.
Gurdaspur SSP had formed a team to carry raids after getting inputs that some people were slaughtering cows at Kalyanpur to sell packed beef. After verifying inputs, the team was formed consisting DSP Rajesh Kakkad, CIA in-charge Vishwamitra, officer-in-charge of Gurdaspur police station Jitendra Kumar and officer-in-charge of Dhariwal police station Amandeep Singh.
Meanwhile, Gurdaspur SSP told the media that investigation has been launched which will make further disclosure about the accused and other illegal slaughtering activities.
