The Karnal police in Haryana have arrested four persons in connection with the death of 45 cows under suspicious circumstances at a gaushala maintained by the Karnal Municipal Corporation in Phoosgargh village. The incident took place on the intervening night of January 26 and 27, 2023.
The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of Karnal police probing the case, has now revealed that the bovines had died of poisoning.
45 गायों को मौत के मामले में चार आरोपीयों को पुलिस ने किया गिरफतार:-
— Karnal Police (@PoliceKarnal) February 12, 2023
Haryana Police@police_haryana@cmohry @DGPHaryana @igkarnal pic.twitter.com/ys9nhzWckQ
The accused had reportedly fed Celphos-laced jaggery to the cows. The accused, who had a contract to lift the carcasses of dead cows from the gaushala, had hatched a plan to kill the cows to earn money by selling the skin and bones of the 45 bovines.
Celphos (trade name for aluminium phosphide) is one the most common and lethal poisons with no antidote available till now. The fatal dose is around 0.5 g and acute poisoning with these compounds may be directly due to ingestion of the salts or indirectly from the accidental inhalation of phosphine generated during their approved use. AlP poisoning is common in all parts of the world. It is often implicated in accidental and suicidal poisonings in India.
The police said that the accused have been identified as Vishal Kumar of Kurukshetra, Rajat Kumar of Karnal city, Suraj Kumar of Karnal and Sonu of Ambala Cantt. As per a report in Dainik Bhaskar, all the accused are Christian converts who used to lift the carcasses of dead animals and sell their hides and bones.
The report in Bhaskar says that the accused were habitual offenders who have been killing cows on a regular basis. However, they used to kill 4-5 animals at a time so as not to arouse suspicion. On that night, they killed 45 cows together so the matter got highlighted.
Inspector Mohan Lal, in charge of the CIA, stated that the accused, with the assistance of another accused Suresh Kumar of Deha Basti, Shahbad, conspired to poison the cows.
The inspector said that the accused have been booked under the relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The four arrested accused will be produced in court on Monday. The police will seek their remand for further questioning. Suresh, meanwhile, is still at large and police teams are working to arrest him.
In a similar case that occurred last year in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha, dozens of cows reportedly died after consuming fodder that was poison-laced. As per reports, in a Gaushala in Amroha’s Santhalpur, dozens of cows suddenly fell ill after they were fed the fodder that was purchased from one Tahir in the village on August 3.
