After complaints from Hindu groups about smuggling of a cow and bull for slaughter, the Malad police station registered a complaint under the cow slaughter and animal cruelty laws against two unidentified persons on Wednesday morning.
The van carrying the animals were intercepted by members of the Hindu Vahini near Orlem in the early hours of the day. The two persons, including the driver, fled after abandoning the vehicle and the animals when they were questioned by the activists.
The Malad police station has registered an FIR under the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act, 1986, which bans cow slaughter, and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
Ramnik Gupta, Go Raksha Pramukh, Hindu Vahini, said that one of their activists, Sahil Jaiswal, saw the vehicle at 5.00 am on Marve Road, Malad West. According to the complainant, he was having tea at a roadside stall when he heard the cry of the animals as the vehicle passed by.
He stopped and asked the driver asked him to open the door of the truck’s box.”I saw a black bull and a black cow stuffed inside the vehicle. When I asked the driver where he was taking the animals he did not reply and ran away pretending to be on the phone,” the complainant said.The rescued animals have been sent to an animal shelter.
