In a shocking incident, the Karnal police in Haryana arrested four people in connection with the death of 45 cows under mysterious circumstances at a gaushala in Phoosgargh village maintained by the Karnal Municipal Corporation. The incident took place at midnight on January 26 and 27, 2023.
The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of the district police probing the case has revealed that the cows had died of poisoning.
The accused had reportedly fed Celphos-laced jaggery to the cattles, which resulted in their death. The accused, who regularly used to lift the carcasses of dead cows from the gaushala, had designed a plan to kill the cows to earn money by selling their skin and bones.
The police said that the accused, who are converted Christians, have been identified as Vishal Kumar of Kurukshetra, Suraj Kumar of Karnal, Rajat Kumar of Karnal city and Sonu of Ambala Cantt. According to a report in Dainik Bhaskar, these accused used to lift the carcasses of dead animals and sell their hides and bones.
As per Bhaskar’s report, the accused were habitual offenders who had been killing cows regularly. Shockingly, they used to kill 4 to 5 animals at a time, so no one suspected them earlier. However, they killed 45 cows together this time, so the news got highlighted.
The police said that the accused conspired to poison the cows with the assistance of another accused, Suresh Kumar of Deha Basti, Shahbad. According to police officials, the accused have been booked under the the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Notably, a similar case occurred last year in Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha, where dozens of cows reportedly died after consuming fodder that was poisoned. As per reports, dozens of cows suddenly fell ill in a Gaushala in Amroha’s Santhalpur after they were fed the fodder that was purchased from one Tahir in the village on August 3, 2022.
However, the incident of cow smuggling in Haryana is not new. Similar incidents were reported in the past too. In January 2023, the Nuh police arrested three persons, including a head constable of Delhi Police, for their alleged involvement in cow slaughtering and smuggling. Two heads of cattle and a vehicle were seized from them. All three accused were produced in a city court and sent to judicial custody.
In April 2022, Haryana police chased cattle smugglers in Gurugram. When the smugglers suspected that they might be caught, they started throwing the cows from the moving vehicle towards the chasing vehicles. The video of the incident also went viral on different social media platforms. These cattle were being taken to the Mewat District of Haryana from Delhi. Notably, Mewat in Haryana is notorious for cow smuggling and slaughter.
Furthermore, in December 2017, Cow smugglers attacked Haryana police in Kharkhari village of Mewat District, Haryana. The smugglers rained 35 rounds of the bullet on police. No police personnel was injured in this attack, but a police vehicle was destroyed. All cow smugglers managed to flee.
