POLICE HAVE busted a cattle smuggling racket in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district with the arrest of 10 individuals who had been caught whereas allegedly taking the bovines to slaughterhouses in neighbouring Maharashtra. Among others, the police have named the district basic secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) — the BJP’s youth wing — as an accused within the racket.
According to the police, 165 cows and oxen had been being smuggled by way of the forest route from MP’s Bakoda village to slaughterhouses within the bordering district of Nagpur on January 24 night time after they had been intercepted.
A police patrolling celebration from Lalburra police station reached the spot after receiving info that some drunk males had been making an attempt to cross a stream between Belgaon and Bakoda with the cattle in tow. The police discovered that the lads, who had been from neighbouring villages, didn’t have the required papers to indicate buy of the cattle or their medical certificates.
On additional questioning, the lads instructed the police that the cattle belonged to BJYM chief Manoj Pardhi and one Arvind Pathak. They mentioned Pardhi and Pathak had requested them to take the cattle to Nagpur for slaughter, mentioned Town Inspector of Lalburra Police Station Raghunath Katarkar.
“We then arrested the 10 men from the spot and registered a case against a total of 20 people. We are gathering more evidence to establish the extent of involvement of Manoj Pardhi and Arvind Pathak who will be subsequently arrested,” mentioned Katarkar.
State BJYM president Vaibhav Pawar, when contacted, instructed The Indian Express, “I have just learnt of the matter. We’ll look into it, the truth behind it, and subsequently act accordingly.”
Inspector Katarkar mentioned cattle smugglers have began taking the forest path to Maharashtra following a crackdown on unlawful bovine transport on the roads.
