The poultry farm owner arrested from a village near Bangladesh border on Wednesday night allegedly sold all his dead chicken to eateries on the outskirts of Kolkata, according to police.
Police suspect that using a large network of middlemen, Kaushar Ali Dhali also procured dead chicken from other poultry owners at throwaway prices.
Dhali owned two farms and his business flourished over the last two years.
Police came to know about Dhali after a meat supplier was arrested near the airport on April 27. A huge quantity of chicken that had started to rot was seized from him.
He used to sell healthy and live chicken to retailers in markets. But birds that died of disease or other causes were dressed and sold to eatery owners, said a North 24 Parganas district police officer who did not want to be named.
Dhali was arrested from Hingalgunj in the North 24 Parganas on Wednesday night where he was hiding at a relative’s home.
Officers of the airport police station, where a case against Dhali was registered, suspect that he was trying to escape to Bangladesh.
{{/usCountry}}Officers of the airport police station, where a case against Dhali was registered, suspect that he was trying to escape to Bangladesh.
{{/usCountry}}Police, however, have not found any connection between Dhali and the racket that used to collect carcasses of cows, pigs and other dead animals from dumping grounds in five districts and sold their meat.
The carcass meat racket was first detected on April 20 at Budge Budge, about 28 km from Kolkata. Thirteen people, including Manik Mukherjee, a former CPI(M) leader who was expelled by the party in 2010, Sharafat Ali, a meat supplier and Biswanath Ghorui, one of the key players in the operation, were arrested by police.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on May 10 banned sale of frozen meat or chicken that not dressed in front of the customer at its markets.
A committee set up by chief minister Mamata Banerjee has instructed civic bodies across Bengal to conduct surprise inspections at eateries and shops.
Banerjee had then said that the carcass meat racket has been operating in other states as well.