BAREILLY: The Moradabad police on Wednesday arrested 46 people, including three meat traders of the city, for allegedly slaughtering buffaloes illegally.
A case under the Animal Cruelty Act has been registered against those arrested, among whom is a corporator of the local municipal corporation, police said.
Police have recovered 117 buffaloes, Rs 10 lakh cash and a laptop from the arrested persons and confiscated five large vehicles, including a refrigerator van, allegedly used or transporting the meat to other cities.
The van was being driven by Tauqir Qureshi, a resident of Nai Basti.
Police also apprehended one Zeeshan, a resident of Bada Hata Islamnagar and rounded up several workers employed by the traders for slaughtering the animals.
According to Dinesh Sharma, station officer of Galshaheed police station, a local Congress leader living in Asalatpura and corporator Haji Arfeen Madni were operating an illegal meat racket and slaughtering animals without licence and other necessary clearances.
“Based on the information we received from sources, our patrol party stopped a pickup truck full of buffalo meat,” Sharma said.
The corporator, however, claimed that he had licence for carrying out his meat business but the police said its investigations have revealed that he was procuring meat by illegal slaughtering animals.
{{/usCountry}}The corporator, however, claimed that he had licence for carrying out his meat business but the police said its investigations have revealed that he was procuring meat by illegal slaughtering animals.
{{/usCountry}}“The corporator, as per the terms of the licence, cannot sell meat outside Moradabad. Further, he was only allowed to purchase meat from slaughter houses located in Bareilly and Sambhal. But he was supplying the meat to Dasna in Ghaziabad,” Sharma said.
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