Three men have been booked by the police on charges of cruelty for allegedly separating nine newborn puppies from their lactating mother and dumping them in a drain, leading to the death of one.

The eight surviving puppies were rescued nearly after 24 hours and were reunited with the mother, the Times of India reported.

The stray had given birth to the puppies three weeks back in the compound of a housing society on Link Road, Mumbai. The incident came to light when a resident of the society, Nisha Nikam, who used to feed the strays, could not find the puppies on Friday.

Next day, along with honorary district animal welfare officer Mitesh Jain, she went to search for the puppies and found them roaming on an isolated road, around 100 m from the building.

One of the puppies died out of starvation and the rest were brought back to the mother.

Later, it was found out that the building sweeper had picked the puppies up on Friday. However, society committee members refused to share CCTV footage to corroborate the story.

After the incident, Mitesh Jain filed a complaint at Tuling police station against the sweeper, security in-charge and a building resident. The dead puppy was also sent for an autopsy. Police have assured that they will get the CCTV footage before taking action.

"It is cruel and illegal to dislodge a community animal from their original area," Jain said.

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