Three booked for smuggling cows

RAJPURA, Oct 22: The police have booked three persons for smuggling cows to Uttar Pradesh for slaughter. While one has been arrested, two...

RAJPURA, Oct 22: The police have booked three persons for smuggling cows to Uttar Pradesh for slaughter. While one has been arrested, two are absconding. Yesterday8217;s operation also left one head constable injured as the truck carrying cows hit the barricades put up by the police on the Rajpura-Ambala road near Shambhu village.

According to information available, the police had put up a naka near the Ghaggar bridge on receiving a secret information that a truck carrying cows for slaughter was on its way from Dherian village, near Rajpura, to Uttar Pardesh. A police party, headed by Assistant Sub Inspector Raghubir Singh, was deployed at the check-post. When the suspected truck arrived, it signalled it to stop. Instead of heeding the signal, the truck driver smashed the barricades, injuring Head Constable Gurdev Singh in the process.

Police sources told The Indian Express here tonight that the Head Constable was injured when he was hit by the crashed barricades. The truck hit another barricade a little distance ahead. However, here the smashed barricades hit the fuel tank of the truck, leaving it punctured and the truck stopped after covering a short distance when the entire tank leaked. The truck was immediately surrounded by the police party.

Truck driver Hazara Singh was arrested by the police on the spot even as the other two accused managed to escape. The absconding two have been identified as Bhutto and Bittu. All the three accused are residents of Dherian village.

The police have taken the truck PB 12A-6095 into custody and registered a case under Sections 304/8 of Cow Protection Act and 307-34 of IPC at the Rajpura Sadar Police Station.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Bhupinderjit Singh Virk said the police raids are on to nab Bhutto and Bittu. He said Dherian village, located on the Punjab border with Haryana, is notorious for its cow smugglers.

Virk added that the drive against cow smuggling has yielded encouraging results and it is planned to increase the pressure on smugglers who sell cows in Uttar Pradesh. On Dussehra night, he revealed, in a similar operation, the Rajpura Police had recovered 57 cows and 12 calves.