Police in this western Uttar Pradesh district have stumbled upon a flourishing cow slaughter trade — an activity outlawed in the country, which might also involve the complicity of lower-ranking cops.
The arrest and seizure figures with the Panchsheel Nagar police suggest that cows and calves are being brought in from Rajasthan, slaughtered here and sent towards Sambhal and Moradabad.
After taking charge as SSP of Panchsheel Nagar, Ashok Kumar Raghav launched a massive drive against this trade. The points where slaughtering was being conducted were identified: Kakor of Gautam Budh Nagar and Dhaulana of Panchsheel Nagar, and hundreds of bovines were rescued.
“Since February 15 this year till March 30, 55 people have been nabbed for cow slaughter. As many as 301 livestock have been rescued and 24 criminal cases have been registered in this one-and-a-half month duration. A slew of weapons including 7 pistols, 11 knives and 2 swords have also been recovered from those arrested,” said Raghav.
During sustained interrogation, they confessed that their business had been flourishing in collusion with lower- and middle-ranking police officers of western UP districts. They usually lured poor farmers from Rajasthan and transported their cattle to Moradabad and Sambhal, the SSP added.
The criminals further confessed that although licensed slaughtering units are operating in and around National Capital Region (NCR), they are in big business since cow meat is in high demand in Arab countries. One of them said that even though they do not have an export license, their raw products are being export through other mediums.
“We are verifying the criminals’ confession and are planning to chalk out a strategy to bust the entire network,” the Panchsheel Nagar SSP claimed.
If what the arrested suspects are saying is true, the police will have to coordinate with the veterinary department to get figures of the decreasing cattle in the area which might hazardously adversely affect the production of the milk.
“We have to go to areas which have been major milk suppliers but have been seeing a sharp fall in cattle population. We may just find another illegal act of manufacturing fake milk in absence of cattle,” the SSP said.