Four arrested for poisoning 45 cattle to death at Karnal gaushala

Sixteen days after 45 cattle were found dead under mysterious circumstances at a gaushala in Phoosgargh village run by the Karnal Municipal Corporation, the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of the Karnal police have arrested four persons for poisoning the cows.

Sixteen days after 45 cows were found dead under mysterious circumstances at a gaushala in Phoosgargh village run by the Karnal Municipal Corporation, the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of the Karnal police have arrested four persons for poisoning the cows.

The accused in police custody in Karnal.The investigators claimed that the accused had mixed Celphos in jaggery and served it to the cows. As many as 45 cattle were found dead at a gaushala in Phoosgargh village run by the Karnal Municipal Corporation. (HT Photo)

The investigators claimed that the accused had mixed Celphos in jaggery and served it to the cows. 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.

Inspector Mohan Lal, in-charge of the CIA, said that the accused with the help of another accused Suresh Kumar of Deha Basti, Shahbad, had planned to kill the cows by poisoning them.

On the intervening night of January 26 and 27, the accused had brought jaggery laced with Celphos and served it to the cattle at the gaushala. The main accused, Suresh is still absconding and police teams are working to arrest him.

Mohan Lal said the accused have been booked under the relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and they will be produced in the court on Monday. The police will seek their remand for further questioning to find out the reason behind the killing of the cattle.

He said the police will also investigate whether they had poisoned cattle earlier also.

On the morning of January 27, at least 45 cattle were found dead while 10 were taken ill.

A local-level inquiry was carried out on the orders of the Karnal deputy commissioner and viscera samples were collected and sent to the forensic science laboratory in Madhuban, but no conclusion was reached. A case under Section 429 (commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless, any elephant, camel, horse, mule, buffalo, bull, cow or ox) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) had been registered against a commission agent of the fodder mandi. Later, a four-member high-level committee was formed by the chief minister under Karnal divisional commissioner Saket Kumar.

Mohan Lal said the accused have told the police that they had taken the contract for the lifting of dead animals. They sell the skin and carcasses of the animals for ₹8,000 to ₹10,000 per cattle and they killed the cattle for money.