‘BJP leader who ran cow shelter traded in their bones, skin’

THE ALLEGATIONS WERE LEVELLED BY CHHATTISGARH’S GAU SEWA AYOG, WHICH, POLICE SAID, WERE FOUND TO BE TRUE

Chhattisgarh BJP leader Harish Verma who was arrested after the death of nearly 300 cows at his cow shelters routinely sold dead cattle to butchers and traded in their skin and bones, according to police.

The state’s Gau Sewa Ayog (official body for bovine welfare) levelled this allegation against Verma in its complaint to the police.

“The Gau Sewa Ayog’s allegation was found to be true,” Durg inspector general of police Deepanshu Kabra told HT on Saturday. “Some of the accused have given statements that dead cows were sold to butchers. Details will come out soon,” said Kabra.

Verma, whom the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suspended after his arrest on August 18, is linked to three cow shelters where cattle deaths, allegedly of starvation and lack of medicines, were reported.

He ran the Shagun Goshala (cow shelter) in Durg district; his wife, Laxmi Verma, operated the Phulchandra Goshala in adjoin- ing Bemetara district; and his relative, M Narayanan, was in charge of Mayuri Goshala, also in Bemetara, said police. All three cow shelters functioned with funding from the Gau Sewa Ayog.

Verma, who is in police custody, has been charged under sections 4 and 6 of Chhattisgarh Agricultural Cattle Preservation Act -2004, Section 11 of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 and Section 409 of Indian Penal Code.

Verma, vice-president of Jamul Nagar Nigam (civic body), came under the scanner after nearly 200 cows died this month at Shagun Goshala cow shelter in Rajpur village. Officials spotted nearly 40 carcasses, but villagers alleged that many dead

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