A cattle-laden truck covered with tarpaulin was standing on NH-149 near the Bankdar Dam under the Pallahara police station.
Villagers came across the truck and heard the roaring sound of the bovines. They informed police about this.
Police reached the spot and seized truck, which carried the cattle in two stairs.
Police rescued 44 cattle, out of which 41 were dead and only three alive.
Block Veterinary Officer Jitendra Pradhan with SDPO Suman Sekhar Singh and Tehsildar Swagat Das, who were present, instructed for postmortem of the dead cattle and then bury the carcasses.