KOCHI: What if the beef you fry in the kitchen turns out to be the meat from stolen cattle? Something similar recently happened in Aluva in Ernakulam when police caught a person who slaughtered stolen bulls and sold them to customers.
Ernakulam Rural Police on Monday arrested Shameer, (37), a native of Kodikuthimala, Asokapuram near Aluva for the crime. The police started a probe following numerous complaints from owners related to the theft of their cattle. From the investigation, it was revealed that eight bulls were stolen from various places in Aluva. "The breakthrough came when we got a tip-off from a person who found the skin of a bull at Shameer's shop. However, the accused removed the skin before the police reached his slaughterhouse. Shameer denied the allegation and told police that he slaughtered buffalo instead of a bull," a police official said.
However, the police team under Aluva Station house officer (SHO) L Anilkumar decided to go further with the investigation and traced people who collected cattle skin for the Shameer's shop. These people confirmed to police that no buffalo was slaughtered in recent days. "Later, the police team questioned people who worked at the slaughterhouse and they admitted that bulls were slaughtered recently. The police took Shameer into custody on Sunday and conducted an interrogation in which he admitted to stealing eight bulls. Of this five were butchered and the remaining were sold to others," a police official said.
Police found that Shameer roams and identifies bulls to be stolen in the daytime. At the night, he reaches the place in an auto-rickshaw to steal the animal. The stolen cattle are slaughtered in the early hours of the day to evade any suspicion. After the arrest, Shameer was produced before the court which remanded him to judicial custody. "Shameer said that it was due to financial crisis, he started stealing cattle. We are conducting a probe to check whether he was involved in a similar theft incident before. We will approach the court seeking his custody soon," an official said.