VIJAYAWADA: At least 100 cows died in a Goshala run by private individuals at Kotturu Tadepalli on the outskirts of Vijayawada city since last night.
Though the exact reason for the death of such a huge number of cows was not yet known, the organisers and police are suspecting that cows were fed with chemical-contaminated which fodder might have led to their death. Not ruling out possibility of sabotage, police are probing whether the fodder and water supplied to the bovines were mixed with any poison.
The deaths of the cows took place in Sri Vijayawada Gosamrakshana Sangham in Kotturu Tadepalli. Since last night, the cows started to die one after the other and the worried organisers called the veterinary doctors. By then, at least 100 cows have died while nearly 30 are still battling for life.
The Goshala organisers put the blame on the grass supplied by local farmers alleging that the chemicals and pesticides sprayed by the farmers might had led to the deaths. Farmers, however, rubbished the allegations and said the same fodder was provided to all the 1,000-odd cows in the Goshala but only 100-odd cows have fell ill.
Police, however, said that the postmortem report will bring out the facts behind the deaths of the cows. They does not rule of sabotage behind the death of the cows and investigating whether the water or fodder supply to the cows was poisoned.
With no surveillance cameras installed in the Gosahala premises, police said their investigation will proceed ahead once the autopsy report comes.
It may be recalled that 24 cows have died in the same Goshala nearly three months back as they were allegedly fed with stale wheat flour then. However, no action has been taken against the organisers or the suppliers of the fodder at that time also.