COIMBATORE: Police arrested a beef seller who was allegedly involved in a serial cattle theft on Saturday. The accused was identified as M Manikandan alias Manimaran (36) from V Mettur near Vadambacheri in Coimbatore, who was running a meat stall in the area.
On Saturday morning, he was caught by the residents of V Vadugapalayam, when he attempted to steal a cow from a shed, belonging to N Karuppasamy. He was then handed over to the Sultanpet police, who then booked a theft case on him and remanded him to the prison in the evening. A cow worth Rs 50,000 was seized from him.
“The person often steals cattle in the village and butchers it to sell the meat. He does not buy cattle for meat and has stolen more than 20 cattle so far. Even though those were reported to the police, no action was taken against him,” said S Nachimuthu, a villager. “After we put up notices to alert the villagers, police arrested him to avoid controversy,” he added.
Police denied the allegations and said they act only based on complaints. “Nobody filed any complaints against him earlier,” a police officer said.