Joga cow slaughter case main suspect held in Delhi

Police have arrested Mohammad Dilshad Haji, the main suspect in the Joga cow slaughter case which had led to arson and tension in the Malwa belt. Haji and co-suspect Latif were caught in New Delhi, SSP Harcharan Singh Bhullar told media persons in Sangrur today.

Police have arrested Mohammad Dilshad Haji, the main suspect in the Joga cow slaughter case which had led to arson and tension in the Malwa belt. Haji and co-suspect Latif were caught in New Delhi, SSP Harcharan Singh Bhullar told media persons here on Wednesday.

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Haji, hailing from Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh, is at present settled at Bhawanigarh, while Latif lives at Malerkotla.

At Joga village in Mansa district, the suspects ran a factory in rented premises for preparing powder from crushed animal bones. "They got into cow slaughter as they could sell cattle meat for Rs 40 a kilogram in Uttar Pradesh," the SSP said. "After the cow slaughter came to light, Haji fled to New Delhi."

The police traced Haji to an area near Jama Masjid in the national capital. A court had declared him proclaimed offender in another case of cow slaughter registered at Malerkotla. On Thursday, the police would produce the arrested persons in court.

On Tuesday, the Punjab assembly had passed a resolution condemning the Joga incident, in which the carcasses of 25 cows were dumped near a factory. This provoked violence, after which the administration imposed curfew in Mansa to control the situation.