In a major crackdown on an illegal slaughterhouse in the Ambajogai city of the Beed district in Maharashtra, the police have recovered 111 cattle and have sent them to three nearby Goshalas. The police raided the slaughterhouse situated in the Barabhai Galli area of Ambajogai city at around 11 AM on 18th February 2022. The unknown culprits running the slaughterhouse who had left the spot before the police raid are still absconding and the police are in search of them.
On Friday 18th February 2022, a joint police team led by DSP Sunil Jaybhaye had raided a slaughterhouse situated in the Barabhai Galli of Ambajogai city. According to a report by Daily Punya Nagari, SP of the Beed district R. Raja had received a tip from the informer that illegal slaughtering of the cattle is being practised in Ambajogai, especially in the Barabhai Galli. Additional SP office of Ambajogai and Ambajogai City police station was then contacted by the SP R. Raja and a joint team raided the said place. The culprits running the slaughterhouse had already absconded. The police saved 111 cattle including cows and bullocks.
These cattle were then handed over to three nearby Goshalas. Late Gopinathrao Munde Gorakshan Shala at Varwati accepted the parenthood of some cattle while the remaining were given to other two Goshalas – one at Ghatnandur and the other at Kanherwadi near Parli city. The whole procedure lasted till 11 AM on 19th February 2022. Unfortunately, two cattle could not survive.
Police Constable Wadkar had informed while talking to OpIndia, “This number is so huge for the local Goshalas that none of them could accommodate them alone. So we trifurcated the lot and handed the cattle over to the three Goshalas. They already lack cattle food as this already is a drought-prone area. The police have marked the house number and other details of that property. An application is given to the local Municipality office to get the details of the owners and occupants of the property where this slaughterhouse was operating.”
He further informed, “Unfortunately, two of the saved cattle could not survive. They were already looking malnourished and added to it, they must have been frightened a lot. Actually, this was a joint operation by the SP R. Raja’s team who had received the tip and the local police led by the DSP Sunil Jaybhaye.”
It is notable that this is the third time in the month of February 2022 that the police have taken action against cow trafficking and slaughtering. Earlier, on 17th February 2022, the police had caught a tempo (vehicle number MH08H4397) trafficking the cattle near Swami Ramanand Teerth Rural Medical College and Hospital and had saved eight cattle. A case was registered in the Ambajogai city police station against Shekh Raju Shekh Rafik and Shoeb Khureshi. Even before that, on 3rd February 2022, the police had raided a slaughterhouse in the same Barabhai Galli area and had saved 15 cattle. It was being discussed in the city for the last few days that a big racket of slaughterhouses is active in Ambajogai and hundreds of cattle are slaughtered and beef is sent elsewhere from Ambajogai.
Ambajogai has been known primarily for its Dharmic importance as this is the Teerth Kshetra of Goddess Yogeshwari which makes it one among the 51 Shakti Peethas in the Indian subcontinent. This has been the place of the first-ever Marathi poet Mukundaraja, a twelfth-century saint who wrote poetic commentaries on Upanishads and Vedas in the Marathi language. Ambajogai has been a strategically situated center of the Imperial Subsidiary Force of the British in the former Nizam territory. Geographically second highest in the Marathwada region, this city houses more than 30% Muslim population.
Recently, the Beed district has also been in the discussions for the banners raised in support of the hijab in Beed city and in Georai which is the hometown of the infamous terrorist Abu Jundal accused in the case of the 26/11 terror attacks of Mumbai. Ambajogai’s Municipality had unanimously passed a resolution in 1998 according to which there are no statues of any eminent personality in public places. People here have been following this as rule in order to maintain communal harmony despite the significant Muslim population. The sudden appearance of this holy city in the news about such a barbaric act is potent enough to disturb the social fabric and it has sent shock waves in the minds of the local citizens.
