‘Beef’ seized in Singrauli sent to Hyderabad lab for testing

Samples of the meat seized in Singrauli district were sent for scientific analysis to Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad on Tuesday after a Jabalpur lab expressed inability to establish origin of the samples.

Samples of the meat seized in Singrauli district were sent for scientific analysis to Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad on Tuesday after a Jabalpur lab expressed inability to establish origin of the samples.

The meat – suspected to be beef – was seized from Shivpahari village on MP-Chhattisgarh border on Saturday night.

“…the Jabalpur lab (of Nanaji Deshmukh Veterinary Science University) communicated us on Monday its inability to establish the nature of any other meat, except of wildlife species. We’re left with no option but to send it for advanced forensic analysis at CCMB, Hyderabad now,” Singrauli additional SP Suryakant Sharma told HT on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, police arrested Jeetu Swai, 26, who is the contractor of the private canteen for whose consumption the meat was meant. “The arrested man hails from Odisha, but has been running the private canteen in Tiyari village for nearly two years. A total of six men have been arrested so far,” Sharma added.

Seized meat was not of a slaughtered animal but of an animal carcass

Meanwhile, sources connected to ongoing probe revealed that the 80 kg seized meat was not of a slaughtered animal, but instead of an animal carcass. Primary investigation had indicated that the meat - sourced by a private canteen in Tiyari village of Singrauli - was of a slaughtered animal.

But interrogation of the father-son duo of Ramayan and Bhanu Saket revealed that the meat was not of a slaughtered animal and instead of a carcass. “The father-son duo skinned abandoned carcasses at a place between Sasan and Nigahi for long. It’s the meat of a carcass and later supplied to Ram Bahal Rajak and Rijku Nai. The same meat concealed in a rucksack was being taken by Ram Bahal and Rijku for supply to the private canteen’s cook Ram Sagar Jaiswal…,” a Singrauli police officer said.

It has also come to the fore that the meat of carcass was supplied to the private canteen in Tiyari village in the past through Ram Bahal and Rijku. The arrested men confirmed that those who consumed food at the private canteen in Tiyari village, included foreign nationals residing in adjoining China Colony locality.