Gujarat: Massive Seizure Of Meat After Police Raid Illegal Slaughterhouse, Rescue 75 Cattle

On 23 May, the Ahmedabad police in Gujarat raided the area behind Rani Rupamati’s mosque in Shahpur and found an illegal slaughterhouse in operation there.

The police later filed an FIR, and arrested five accused. They booked seven more persons related to the case.

Shahpur has been identified as a Coronavirus hotspot and declared as red zone in Ahmedabad.

The FIR was filed at Shahpur police station on the statement of VL Dhangan, police sub-inspector, surveillance squad, Shahpur.

The police have invoked sections 5, 6, 6(k)1, 7 and 8 of Gujarat Animal Protection Act, 2017 and sections 11(1)(i), 11(1)(l) and 11(1)(d) of Prevention of Animal Cruelty Act, 1960.

In addition, the police have booked the accused under sections 335 and 393 of Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949 along with IPC section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle), and 119 of Gujarat Prohibition Act, 1949.

As per the statement, the police were checking vehicles at ‘Trankhuniya Bagicha’ when one motorcycle driver ran away into the streets behind Rani Rupmati’s mosque.

When the police reached the spot, they found some people had tied living animals cruelly with rope and were unloading them from a matador with the intention of illegally slaughtering them.

The police stopped them in that condition and cordoned the area, the statement says.

According to the FIR, the police detained several people along with 75 buffaloes and four vehicles worth Rs 26.32 lakh.

The statement also states that the police called the sanitary inspector of the municipality slaughterhouse to destroy the confiscated meat — approximately 1,500 kg — by pouring kerosene, phenyl and clay.

It says the cattle was handed over to Shri Geetaben Rambhia Ahimsa Trust.

Those arrested on the spot have been identified as Mohammad Ibrahim Qureshi (19), Rafiq Gulam Mustafa Qureshi (26), Gulam Ghosh Usmanbhai Qureshi (66), Mohammad Yasin (40) and Mohammad Yarubhai Ismailbhai Qureshi.

The rest of the seven accused are namely Adnan Nurmohammad, Mohsin Babu Kodi, Mono Babu Kodi, Shabbir Jani Qureshi, Aarif Pachasiyo, Ahmed Kabir and Siddiq Bhuro.

“There were 75 buffaloes worth Rs 5.82 lakh and meat worth Rs 1.50 lakh. The accused have been booked under various sections of animal protection acts as well as the IPC. They have been sent for corona test and reports are awaited,” PI R K Amin of Shahpur has been quoted as saying by Ahmedabad Mirror.

Previously, the police had arrested one Furkan Qureshi with 150 kilograms of buffalo meat in Juhapura, Ahmedabad, Gujarati daily Divya Bhaskar reported.

Furkhan reportedly told the police that he had illegally slaughtered the buffalo to distribute meat in the houses of his society for Ramzan.