pune

Updated: May 30, 2018 16:22 IST

The police arrested two men on Tuesday morning for carrying six tonnes of bovine meat without license through Pimpri.

The two arrested men were identified as Abdul Rehman Ati Mohammad Khan, 37 and Ehsan Mohammad Idrisi, 19, both residents of Kurla, Mumbai.

Two other people have also booked in the case. While one of them has been identified as the buyer with the name Gunny Bhai, in Mumbai, the provider of meat remains unidentified as the police are yet to confirm his/her name. The two arrested men told the police that they were taking the meat to a man in Navi Mumbai.

The truck was intercepted around 3am by a group of three men identified as Shivshankar Swamy, 25, Upendra Balkawde, 27, and Sachin Jawalkar, 26, all residents of Pune and members of gaurakshak (cow protection) unit of Samasta Hindu Agahadi, an organisation headed by Milind Ekbote.

"We set a trap along the old Mumbai-Pune road and stopped the truck. We called the police and took the truck to Pimpri police station," Swamy said in a written statement.

Assistant police inspector Raju thubal along with one other officer at the police station took note of the incident and performed panchanama.

“We have sent a sample to the lab (in Chatirshringi) for testing. We had to dispose of the meat and take the two men to court. We have three days of police custody of the two,” said API Thubal.

Dr ST Deshpande, a doctor from a veterinary hospital in Aundh, was called to the spot in order to identify the meat. He told the police that the meat, prima facie, in the truck was found to be that of cow and buffalo.

Khan was driving a Tata tempo with Idrisi by his side. The truck is registered in Mumbai in the name of a man identified only as Mohammed Ilyas Abdul Rehman Qureshi.

A case under Sections 5(c) and 9(a) of Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act, 1995 was registered against the three at Pimpri police station. API Thubal is investigating the case.