On Eid eve, 3 bakras abducted at knifepoint; probe on

In a bizarre incident in east Delhi’s Ghazipur area, three sacrificial goats decorated with accessories and their horns painted in bright colours were abducted at knifepoint by three unidentified men in a white Maruti 800 car on Tuesday evening.

In a bizarre incident in east Delhi’s Ghazipur area, three were abducted at knifepoint by three unidentified men in a white Maruti 800 car on Tuesday evening. Only, those abducted were not humans but three sacrificial goats decorated with accessories and their horns painted in bright colours.

The three bakras were on their way to the cattle market when they were kidnapped. The abduction was done in a typical Bollywood film style while the three goats were being taken to the market on the eve of Eid ul-Adha.

Valued between Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 60,000 each, the goats were being brought from a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh for sale in Delhi. An FIR has been registered at the Ghazipur police station against unknown persons in the case.

The police believe that soaring rates of sacrificial goats during the festival was the motive behind the kidnapping. Besides probing the role of an organised gang of bakra thieves, senior police officers are also looking at the involvement of potential bakra buyers who probably did not have enough money to buy them from cattle market.

As many as three teams of the east district police have been formed under the supervision of a senior investigating officer to probe the case and rescue the goats.

Though their chances of survival are minimal as bakras are supposed to be sacrificed on Wednesday on the occasion of Eid, investigators have picked up some local cattle traders and are questioning them at length.

The owner of the three sacrificial bakras, Nuruddin, said he had purchased the three bakras for Rs. 30,000 each from his sister’s village in Aligarh around a fortnight ago.

“All the three were one year old. On Tuesday evening, I was taking them to the cattle market for sale. We had reached near paper market when a white Maruti car stopped near us and three men stepped out. They pointed knives at me and threatened me with dire consequences if I refused to part with my goats. I got scared and handed over my goats to them. They kept them in their car and fled towards Khoda Colony,” Nuruddin said.