BENGALURU: A 30-year-old man from Bihar was arrested for allegedly slashing the udders of three cows in Vinayaka Nagar, Cottonpet.
Police identified the accused as Sheikh Nasru, from Champaran district in Bihar. He works as a helper in a plastic and cloth bag stitching shop located 50m away from the cowshed. He was found to have committed the act in an inebriated condition.
Nasru is said to be a repeat offender -- last year, he was caught by the public for the dastardly act of inserting a pipe into a cow’s private part. People had beaten him up before letting him off.
Nasru was arrested on Sunday evening and produced before a magistrate. “No other person is found to be involved. He was arrested and remanded in judicial custody till January 24.
The cows have been treated and are presently out of danger,” S Girish, DCP (West) said.
The jurisdictional Cottonpet police checked CCTV footage in the vicinity and saw Nasru moving suspiciously in the early hours of Sunday. Around 20 police personnel searched for the accused after the incident started taking political colour. When he was picked up and questioned, Nasru reportedly confessed to having committed the act using a blade. He had also pierced a cow’s leg with the blade.
Karna, who rears the cows and is a resident of Old Pension Mohalla in Vinayaka Nagar, has raised doubts over the arrest. He has reared six cows over the past six years.
“The owner of the bag stitching shop had difficulty shifting raw material to his shop from luggage autos, as the narrow passage was blocked by Karna’s cows. The shop owner and Karna had some issue over this. We are checking if Nasru’s employer has any role,” said an officer.
After Nasru was arrested, locals started claiming he was mentally unsound. Karna has ruled out that the accused is mentally unsound and said he has been seeing him for the past five years. He urged the police to arrest Nasru’s employer. He also wanted to know which bar was open around 3.30am on Sunday for Nasru to consume alcohol.
Karna expressed doubts over the urgency of the police in sending the accused to jail, and suspected that Nasru had not committed the act alone. He claimed that some unknown people were behind it and had targeted cows that were giving more milk.
An FIR was registered by the jurisdictional Cottonpet police under the Cruelty to Animals Act and Sec 325 of BNS. Investigations are on.
MLA SN Channa-basappa alleged that the population of cows in the state has been dwindling over the years, and there is a need to punish those who are into slaughtering the animals. He condemned the incident in Cottonpet, and alleged that the drug mafia has been active here. He demanded the government to act against the culprits.