Five people were taken into custody on Saturday by the Amruthahalli police for allegedly killings dogs and then selling their meat to roadside eateries. The arrested have been identified as Kanakori Lakshman, Kanakori Aadhappa, Kanakori Anji, Kanakori Redappa and Kanakori Narayanamma, all from Koduru village of Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh who claimed to be pig-rearers.
The incident came to light when the residents of Jakkur village near BIA noticed a man carrying an unconscious dog on his shoulder on Saturday. The locals tried to question him but he fled the scene. The villagers then chased the man up to his makeshift dwelling in an open field and, to their horror, discovered more than nine dogs lying around unconscious.
The villagers rounded up four men and a woman at the site and, still suspicious, started checking the area. They then found several smelly gunny bags in a nearby storm water drain containing decomposed carcasses of about 10 dogs. The Amruthahalli police, who arrived on the scene by then, called in the BBMP animal husbandry department. Joint director, animal husbandry Dr Parvez Ahmed Piran took blood and tissue samples from the dead dogs and the one that was alive. The Amruthahalli police have registered a case against the five under various sections of IPC and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
“We suspect that these dogs were being killed for their meat to be sold to eateries along the highways. There are several dhabas on Bellary Road and the gang might have been supplying the meat to some of these eateries. Though the meat in itself is not harmful, the drugs that were used on the animal may have ill-effects,” Dr Piran said. It also suspected that the dog carcasses may have been used as compost by vineyard owners.
Police suspect that there may be a network or a ring operating in the area. It may recalled that in 2005, several such incidences of dog meat being sold at eateries had come up following which the issue had created quite a furore even in the assembly.