Key Takeaways
- Police in Rajasthan’s Alwar district took action against cow slaughterers operating a ‘beef mandi’, demolishing 12 houses and rescuing 12 cows.
- The cow slaughterers had illegally encroached 500 bighas of government land and constructed illegal structures on the land.
- The police have detained 30 accused and are investigating the roles of local officials who allegedly helped the culprits.
In a village called Rundh Gidawara in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, ‘bulldozer action’ was seen at play when the police ordered the demolition of 12 kutcha and pucca houses on a 70 bigha land, which was illegally encroached by some people, who were involved in slaughtering cows on the land, and were operating a ‘beef mandi’. 30 accused have been detained by the police as well.
Minister of Forest, Rajasthan, Sanjay Sharma too reached the site, and ADM Surendra Singh Yadav said that the criminals had encroached illegally, 200 bighas of government land, and the wheat and mustard crops being grown on 70 bighas out of the 200, were destroyed with bulldozers running over the land. 12 huts were also demolished. Electricity Department’s AEN, Dinesh Bhadana, stated that the power connections of 5 homes were also snapped, and 5 electricity poles, along with 2 transformers were removed as well.
SP Anil Beniwal said that the police found 12 cows on the spot too, who were then rescued and sent to a cowshed.
The police detained the 30 accused, out of whom many have been identified, after half a dozen villages around the concerned site were raided throughout Sunday night. Till now, the police have interrogated around 50 individuals, but they have not yet revealed the names of the culprits.
According to reports, 600 cows were slaughtered at this beef mandi every month, and beef was also delivered at homes across 50 villages. It has been found out that the beef mandi could be operated at such a large scale because the revenue department and local policemen were hand in glove with the culprits.
While the culprits illegally encroached 500 bighas of government land, constructed illegal structures on the land, and slaughtered cows and a beef mandi was functioning on the land, the information was not shared by the local officials- from the level of a patwari to the tehsildar. Villagers have alleged that the culprits were helped by the patrolling officer and the patwari, along with other officials, in encroaching the land. After which, water supply and power were made available to them as well.
ADM Surendra Singh Yadav stated that the roles of the tehsildar, patwari, land record official, and the village development officer in the case are being looked into. And while the police have been able to search around an area of 4 KM on the spot, the forest land where the beef mandi was being operated is spread around an area of 15-20 KM. All of the land is filled with the remains of the cows which were slaughtered there, and skulls and hides are being found constantly on the encroached land.
