Inter-state cow beef smugglers racket busted 10 arrested in Himachal-Uttarakhand

Nahan (HP), April 1 (PTI) Inter-state beef smugglers gang allegedly involved in slaughtering dozens of cows, parts of which were found on the banks of the Yamuna river in Himachal Pradesh's Paonta and Uttarakhand on Monday have been arrested, police said on Tuesday.
    A total of ten criminals allegedly associated with this gang have been arrested while some masterminds are still at large, Dehradun SSP Ajay Singh and Sirmour SP Nishchint Singh Negi said in a joint press conference in Poanta.
    Hundreds of agitators led by Hindu organisations had staged a 'dharna' and blocked the Dehradun-Paonta-Chandigarh National Highway on Monday after body parts of more than a dozen recently slaughtered cows were found in the Yamuna river in the Paonta area and some parts on the Uttarakhand side of the river.
    Alleging that it was a deliberate act to hurt the sentiments of Hindus, the protestors demanded immediate action against the alleged criminals.
    Out of the ten arrested, eight members of this inter-state beef smugglers gang were arrested from Uttarakhand and two from Paonta sub-division of Himachal Pradesh. Police on Tuesday said that police of both states are working jointly on this case and joint patrolling would be carried out in the area to check such crimes.
    Ajay Singh said that during interrogation, the gang members allegedly revealed that they look for the cattle which comes for grazing on the bank of the river, slaughter them and sell their beef at a high price.
    He said that police have also recovered weapons allegedly used in slaughtering these cows, and it has been sent for forensic examination.
    Most of the gang members arrested by police have past criminal records and have been booked in multiple cases, including cow-slaughtering, earlier also, he added.
    Those arrested from Uttrakhand include Naushad, Gulbahar, Naushad, Musharraf, Sameer, Shahrukh, Sadik, Tauseeb, all residents of the Khushalpur village under the Sahaspur police station of Dehradun, while Shahnawaz and Irshad hailed from the Manpur Devda village in Poanta.
    Cases under sections 325 (mischief by killing animals), 196 (promoting disharmony, enmity, or hatred between different groups) of the BNS and Section 8 of the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act and other relevant sections were registered in both the states, police said.
    Earlier on Tuesday, a delegation consisting of representatives from different Hindu organisations led by former minister and BJP MLA from Paonta Sahib Sukhram Chaudhary submitted a memorandum through SDM Paonta to the state government, demanding strict and quick action against the killers of cows.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)