10 quintals of meat, booked as paneer, seized from Bihar bus

MUZAFFARPUR THE DRIVER INFORMED THE POLICE ABOUT THE CONSIGNMENT OF MEAT, WHICH WAS PACKED IN 10 DRUMS AND BOOKED AS COTTAGE CHEESE

: Close on the heels of crackdown on illegal slaughter houses, police recovered nearly 10 quintals of meat from a New Delhi-bound bus in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur on Saturday.

The consignment of meat, packed in 10 drums, was booked as paneer or cottage cheese, Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vivek Kumar said. Kumar said the bus driver, suspecting something fishy, parked the vehicle near Kali Mandir on NH-28 at Motipur, 104km north of Patna, and informed the police. A team of Motipur police reached there, seized the meat and arrested the person who had booked the consignment, the SSP said.

“We are interrogating the arrested person,” Kumar said.

Earlier this week , police raids had uncovered at least four slaughter houses running illegally on the premises of Bela Industrial Area of the town, around 70km north of Patna.

Acting on a complaint by Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), the police had on Monday raided the premises of Alfa Leather Industries Pvt Ltd on the Bela Industrial Area campus and seized 500 tonnes of meat that was being packed for supply to different parts of the country. While six employees of the illegal abattoir were arrested, slaughter house owner Parvej Akhtar, a veterinarian, managed to escape.

Two days later, police raided three closed units, adjacent to the Alfa Leathers Industries Pvt Ltd, and seized meat in huge quantity, apart from incriminating documents and cheque books of three banks. Packaging cases carrying names of six different companies were also recovered.

Meanwhile, AWBI official Neeru Gupta claimed the illegal business of meat was being carried out in connivance with the local police and administrative officials.

“The entries in a diary recovered during the raid at Alfa Leather Industries Pvt Ltd points to the nexus between officials and illegal traders. The entries reveal that ₹5,000 was given to Bela police for New Year celebrations and ₹3,000 was paid recently to the company distributing electricity in the area,” she alleged.

Gupta said deputy superintendent of police Ashish Anand and sub divisional officer Sunil Kumar did not immediately act on the AWBI complaint, giving ample time to operators of illegal slaughter houses to transport 3,000 tonnes of meat in six trucks.

The officers, however, denied the allegations, saying they did everything possible. “We are law abiding officials and every action was taken under the provisions of law,” they said.