Mob stops truck carrying buffalo calves, roughs up driver

GREATERNOIDA: A mob of ‘vigilantes’ on Sunday intercepted a truck carrying 100 buffalo calves in Greater Noida’s Kasna area and roughed up the driver before handing him over to the police. The mob claimed that the truck was on its way to an illegal slaughterhouse in Dasna, Ghaziabad.

Kasna police, who rushed to the scene and rescued the driver of the truck from the mob, later confirmed that the animals were being taken for illegal slaughtering.

Police said the driver of the truck, Aslam, was nabbed by the mob and roughed up before he could be rescued. Two of Aslam’s aides, Iftiyaq and another yet to be identified person, managed to flee.

According to police, the incident took place around 5pm on a stretch of road in Kasna area of Greater Noida . The mob, after stopping the canter truck, discovered that as many as nine calves had died due to suffocation inside the vehicle.

“A group of people intercepted a canter carrying buffalo calves, beat up the driver and handed him over to the police. We have sent the driver for medical tests . We have also booked him under the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and arrested him,” said Aashish Shrivastava, superintendent of police (rural).

According to police, the calves were branded on their toes by the men.

“Many calves had fainted due to suffocation, while nine of them died inside the canter. The animals were rescued and water was splashed on them. The calves were branded and the factory to which they were being sent was in Dasna. We will initiate action against the factory,” said Aazad Singh Tomar, station house officer, Kasna Police station.

“The calves were being taken for illegal slaughtering to a factory in Dasna of Ghaziabad. We will also check the credentials of the factory,” Tomar added.

The police later decided to hand over the remaining calves to the residents of Kasna village

“We arranged a vet for the remaining calves. Many people volunteered to adopt the calves and we handed the animals over to them,” said Srivastava.