BHOPAL: Seven persons, including the husband of the village sarpanch have been arrested in connection with the alleged killing and burial of 17 cattle inside a government school complex located in Samudan village of Gwalior district.
According to Dabra City police station in-charge Yashwant Goyal, till now seven persons, including Dalveer Singh (the village sarpanch’s husband) have been arrested, while search is underway for four more accused. The accused have been booked under the provisions of state’s anti-cow slaughter law.
After grilling of the accused arrested on Saturday has revealed that angered over stray cattle often damaging their crops in Samudan village (around 45 km from Gwalior district headquarters), they had locked the cattle in the room in the school complex on October 12. The small room in which the cattle, including seven cows, were stuffed and locked, was originally meant to house the office of Patwari (a revenue department staff), but it has now been abandoned.
Police investigating the case said after stuffing and locking the cattle inside the room, the accused, including the village sarpanch’s husband didn’t bother to render fodder and water to the cattle. The autopsy report of the cattle carcasses has revealed that they died due to suffocation and asphyxia.
The village sarpanch’s husband was particularly involved in the digging of the school ground with a JCB machine and subsequent burial of the dead cattle there on October 16 evening. Importantly, the entire episode is also being probed by SDM Raghvendra Pandey and the report is likely to be submitted to the district collector on Monday.
According to sources associated with the ongoing probe, the locking of the cattle and the burial of the carcasses all within the school premises (which houses the school, anganwadi centre and also the patwari’s abandoned office) clearly smacks gross negligence in the matter by the school staff and the anganwadi centre staff.
“Once the fact-finding report is submitted, action will be taken against government staff whose negligence is established in the matter,” a senior Gwalior district administration official said on Sunday.