KAMAREDDY: District police on Wednesday booked five village sarpanches within the Machareddy police station limits for allegedly killing stray dogs to fulfil election promises.
According to the police, the complaint filed by a representative of the Animal Welfare Association alleged that over the past 10 days, a large number of stray dogs were killed using unidentified drugs and that the bodies were buried within Bhavanipet, Palvancha, Pharidhpet, Bandarameshwar Pally and Vadi village limits.
Officials said they have so far recovered 244 dog carcasses from Bhavanipet, Palvancha and Pharidhpet villages. Postmortems will be conducted on the remains, they added.
Sources said during the recent rural body elections, several candidates had promised to address the stray dog issue after being elected, and the newly elected sarpanches may have believed that eliminating stray dogs was necessary. However, police said the facts would emerge after the investigation.
Meanwhile, a villager from Machareddy mandal said the government should advise sarpanches to adopt scientific methods to address the stray dog issue.