‘Meat confiscated from Jaipur hotel was not beef’

Meat seized from a Jaipur hotel that was sealed after cow protector vigilantes attacked it two months ago was not beef as alleged by the Hindu mob, police told HT on Tuesday.

The Forensic Science Laboratory that was examining samples seized from the Hayat Rabbani hotel ruled out any possibility that the meat was from a cow or its progeny, police officers added.

“From the very first day, I have been saying that it was chicken but no one from the administration listened to me,” said Naeem Rabbani, owner of the hotel.

On March 19, more than 100 cow vigilantes surrounded the Rabbani hotel around midnight and protested in front of it for six hours, alleging that the establishment sold beef.

“We sent the meat samples taken from the hotel to the forensic science laboratory. The reports have revealed that the meat was not beef,” deputy commissioner of police (west) Ashok Gupta told HT.

Within hours of the attack, the hotel was sealed by the Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) and hasn’t opened since despite a court order.

The Hindu leader who led the mob, Sadhvi Kamal ‘Didi’, appeared unhappy with the forensic tests.

“I will speak with the police to verify that whether the forensic test of the meat sample has been done correctly or not,” said the 39-year-old president of the Rashtriya Mahila Gauraksha Dal.

But the forensic test results may have come too late for the hotel owner, who used to chalk up tens of thousands of rupees in daily sales but says he has bled money in recent weeks.

“I have incurred loss of lakhs of rupees and in the past one and a half month and the people who worked in the hotel are also jobless as it is sealed even today,” said Rabbani.