india

Updated: Jan 28, 2019 21:30 IST

A group of “gau rakshaks” (cow vigilantes) led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA T Raja Singh on Monday rescued as many as 63 cows and calves which were allegedly being transported in a container truck to an abattoir on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

Acting on specific inputs, the gau rakshaks chased the truck and waylaid it near Shamirpet in Medchal district, about 25 km from Hyderabad in the morning.

Raja Singh, the lone BJP legislator representing Goshamahal assembly constituency in Hyderabad, also reached the spot well in advance, following the tip-off.

They found that a large number of cows and calves were stuffed in the container with just two lids on the top open for breathing. They caught hold of the driver and handed him over to the local police.

The driver told the police that the cattle were being transported from Narasannapet in Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam district to Al Kabeer, a popular beef exporting firm at Rudraram village in Sangareddy district.

According to Shamirpet police inspector B Naveen Reddy, the driver has been taken into custody and arrangements have been made for sending the rescued cows to notified sheds.

“We have registered a case under various sections of the Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act,” he said.

Raja Singh, the legislator who declared cow protection as his prime duty, said the activists had recorded a major achievement in cow protection.

Known for his controversial and inflammatory comments, Singh had kicked up a row by supporting incidents of lynching of people for alleged cow slaughter.