Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Police arrested a 21-year-old man on Monday after a video showed three people slamming a cat against the ground and hitting it with large stones in the city’s New Vadaj area, police said.
According to the complaint and the video, three people arrived at the spot on a scooter carrying a cat in a white sack. (Photo: Unsplash/Representative Image)
{{^htLoading}} {{/htLoading}}
Police identified the prime suspect as Rahul Dantani, a resident of Mahadevnagar in Vadaj.
The incident, which occurred at a vacant land parcel near Sahaj Apartments in New Vadaj, was recorded on a phone by a local resident on December 21.
According to the complaint and the video, three people arrived at the spot on a scooter carrying a cat in a white sack. One of them first slammed the sack on the ground. The cat was then taken out and hit repeatedly with large stones, leading to its death. The youth is then seen kicking the cat’s lifeless body, sitting next to it and posing for photographs taken by his accomplice on a mobile phone.
The video provoked outrage on social media and formed the basis of a first information report after local animal rights activists visited the spot and found the dead cat.
{{^htLoading}} {{/htLoading}}
{{^usCountry}}
“Based on the scooter’s registration number seen in the video, police identified the main accused as Rahul Dantani, a resident of Mahadevnagar in Vadaj, and arrested him within hours of the FIR being registered,” a Vadaj police station officer said.
{{/usCountry}}
{{#usCountry}}
“Based on the scooter’s registration number seen in the video, police identified the main accused as Rahul Dantani, a resident of Mahadevnagar in Vadaj, and arrested him within hours of the FIR being registered,” a Vadaj police station officer said.
{{/usCountry}}
The role of the other two men seen in the video is under investigation, he added.
The case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
CCTV footage from nearby areas and the viral video are being examined as part of the investigation, police said.
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.
Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.
Home/India News/21-year-old man held for brutally killing cat after video goes viral in Gujarat
{{^htLoading}}
Advertisement
{{/htLoading}}
SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
{{#usCountry}}{{/usCountry}}
Hindustantimes wants to start sending you push notifications. Click allow to subscribe
