An illegal racket of cow slaughter has been busted by Maharastra Police in Tarapur in the Palghar district of Maharashtra on January 26. The police have registered FIR against 11 persons after the accused attacked the police after being caught red-handed.
The Maharashtra Police has registered an FIR against eleven people over illegal slaughtering of cows and selling cattle meat in Tarapur, Palghar. The Police on Wednesday morning received information about the illegal slaughter of cows which is prohibited under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act 2015 which restricts the slaughter of bulls, bullocks and calves. A team of police from the Panchmarg Naka Police station set out to Tarapur where the accused Mohommed Joher Sheikh was running a cattle shed afront his home beside an Urdu school in Tarapur.
It is reported that Ansari Damanwala and his two sons – Atique Ansari and Abdul Hamid Ansari were involved in the illegal cow slaughter and beef trading. It is learnt that the Ansari trio used to smuggle stolen beef from illegal traders which were then brought to Mohammed Johar Sheikh’s slaughterhouse. Among the people involved in illegal storage and cutting of cow meat were Sheikh’s wife Rubina, Sulieman Zubair and Faizal from Patni Mohalla Ramzan, Khalid from Teliwada and a person named Thakur whose details are unknown.
According to the FIR, when the police reached the slaughterhouse in Tarapur, they found cow meat being sliced with sharp knives and bladed tools. When the police tried to enquire about the ongoings, the accused hit out at the policemen with knives in a life-threatening attack. According to the police, Ansari Damanwala came forward and threatened, “You go back or else we will all kill you with what we have in our hands.”
Inspector Ramesh Hadal describes in the FIR, “When we caught them red-handed, Ansari Damanwala came forward to threaten us with knives. When I moved to get hold of him, his sons attacked me with knives and tried to obstruct the operation. A person named Shoaib attacked me on my left shoulder, in which I was injured”. Inspector Hadal received severe injuries in the attack while his shirt was torn. He further describes, “When Sub Inspector Jadhav got up to nab Suleiman, he too was attacked on his right knee.”
After a small clash with the accused, the police got hold of the people involved in the business. It was reported that Cows, other cattle and activities related to the slaughtering of beef were found by police during their sudden raid on Mohd. Joher Sheikh’s cattle shed. A case was registered against 11 accused over the coordinated attempts of cow smuggling and storage of slaughtered cow meat under sections 5A and 9A of Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act 2015 and section 3,11 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. An offence against hoarding of cattle with the intent of killing was registered under sections 307, 332, 353,269,424, 34 of the Indian Penal Code. The FIR also mentions action against violation of sections 25(1-C) and 4 of the Arms Act of 1959 for possession of sharp knives and life-threatening tools.
Incidents of illegal smuggling and slaughtering of cows have risen in Maharashtra over the years. In June last year, 41 animals including cows were rescued during a raid on an illegal slaughterhouse in Raigad. On December 18, 2021, the brother of a Shiv Sena leader among two were arrested for transporting 40 kgs of beef in Mumbai.
