BENGALURU: Former Mysore-Kodagu BJP MP Pratap Simha, Belthangadi BJP MLA Harish Poonja, cow vigilante Puneeth Kerehalli and other activists staged a protest in front of the office of the assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Vijayanagar Sub-Division, on Wednesday against the alleged torture of Kerehalli in custody. Following the protest, police registered a case against the former MP, Kerehalli and other leaders.
It is alleged that ACP Chandan Kumar tortured Kerehalli, who was arrested on July 26 after he and his associates protested at Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station alleging that dog meat was supplied to Bengaluru from Rajasthan.
It is alleged that the ACP got Kerehalli stripped and assaulted at Cottonpet police station after his arrest.
Condemning the alleged torture, around 100 protesters, including BJP workers and right wing activists, gathered in front of the ACP’s office at Basaveshwara Nagar and raised slogans against the police.
The police took the protesters into preventive custody and were released later. The police said they filed a suo motu case because the protest was held without their permission, causing inconvenience to the public.
Simha told reporters that on July 26, the media reported illegal transportation of meat from Jaipur to Bengaluru. When Kerehalli demanded that the meat be sent for tests, he was taken to Cottonpet police station where he was allegedly stripped and tortured by the ACP, according to Kerehalli’s statement.
“We visited the police commissioner’s office on Wednesday and formally submitted a request for an inquiry against Chandan Kumar,” Simha said.
DNA test in hyderabad lab confirms it as sheep meat
Bengaluru: Lab tests have confirmed that the meat seized at KSR railway station recently was of sheep and not of dog as was alleged. The Food Safety and Standards Department of Karnataka had sent the meat samples to the ICAR-National Meat Research Institute in Hyderabad for analysis. The analysis report dated July 30 identified the samples through Molecular Biomarker Analysis (DNA) as sheep meat.
On Wednesday, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said the department sent 84 samples to Hyderabad for lab analysis. The lab results have confirmed that the meat in question comes from sheep and not from dog, resolving any speculation or misinformation.