Cops send 30 rescued cows to gaushala that does not exist

AMROHA

AN INQUIRY has been ordered after 30 cows rescued from alleged animal slaughterers went missing in the last one month in UP’S Amroha district.

Four police stations, which had rescued the cattle, had claimed that they were sent to a cow shelter, which, as per Uttar Pradesh Gau Sewa Aayog, does not exist.

The Gau Sewa Aayog has lodged a complaint with district magistrate Dev Prakash who has now sought a report from the SP. “I have directed the district police chief to conduct an inquiry and submit a report at the earliest,” the DM told The Indian Express.

The matter came to light when, as a routine process, the Gau Sewa Aayog wrote to all districts, seeking a report on cow slaughter cases with details of animals rescued, the place where they were kept, status of the case and number of persons arrested.

Amroha police, in its report, stated that 30 animals, including cows and its progeny, were rescued in August in different police station areas. The report claimed that 29 of these animals were sent to a cow shelter run by Vrindavan Gaushala Uthhan Samiti located at Noorpur village in the district. The report, however, was silent on where the one remaining cow was sent.

Thereport,sentonseptember 8, bore the signature of Amroha SP Shivasimpi Channappa.

After receiving the report, the Gau Sewa Aayog sent its member Rahulsinghtoconductaninspection of the cow shelter.

“On September 28, I visited the address mentioned in the report. No ‘gaushala’ exists there. It was a sugarcane field with a broken boundary wall on one side. There were no signs, which could indicate that cows were kept there ever,” said Rahul Singh.

Singh told The Indian Express, “I will take up the matter with board members of Gau Sewa Aayog in a meeting scheduled for October 4. I will recommend setting up of a committee to probe the case and also seek records from Amroha police about the recovery of cattle since 2013.”

Amroha’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Brajveer Singh, said, “Before the inspection by the Gau Sewa Aayog member, I had sent a team to the the ‘gaushala’. The team did not find any cattle there. I too have sent a report in this regard to Gau Sewa Aayog.”

As per records, Vrindavan Gaushala Uthhan Samiti was registered in 2014 and its president was Naresh Kumar. When contacted, Naresh said, “I had registered the Samiti in 2014 to run a gaushala. I ran it for about a year before closing it down. I had handed over the cattle to local villagers.” Sunil Kumar, who owns the plot, said Naresh ran the cow shelterforthreemonths.“iamusing the land for farming since then,” he added.

“We are verifying details. I have received a report from one of the police stations and the station officer claims he had written the name of gaushala wrong. Reportsfromotherpolicestations are awaited,” said SP Channappa.