In a case that will send jitters to those who abuse animals, three students from National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) at Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, were not only fined Rs2,500 each by police for torturing a Labrador puppy but they also lost its custody after animal rescue activists using a video of their torture tracked them down and got them booked.

According to Pooja Sakpal, co-founder of Youth Organisation in Defence of Animals (YODA), it was on Wednesday night that they received videos showing two youngsters smoking cigarettes and blowing the smoke on the Labrador puppy that looked traumatised due to the smoke. In one instance, it can clearly be seen that smoke is exhaled into the puppy's mouth: It gets agitated but can't do anything as it's held tightly by one of the accused.

"We contacted the person who knows the three and alerted us by sending the video that was shared on a messaging app. We reached NIFT and met the director and showed him the cruelty video. He immediately summoned Narendra Singh (21), who owned the Labrador. Soon, his friends Suryanshu Raj (22) and Rohit Panchpal (23) were there too," shared Sakpal adding that they then went to Kharghar police station.

Abhishek Soparkar, who is also co-founder of YODA, stated that the police were extremely co-operative while registering their first case of animal cruelty. "All the three were booked under Section 119 of the Maharashtra Police Act and they were fined R2,500 each. The Labrador puppy was handed over to us," he said. The students accepted their mistake and were apologetic.

"In fact, the pup was kept in a small carton in a cardboard and was kept alone from 6am to 6pm. they came home for a few minutes in between to feed it a little. Their landlord did not know that they had a dog with them. We found that the pup was sacred, malnourished and even had a crooked tail due to some injury. It is now being treated. Once it is fine and in good health, we will give it for adoption," Sakpal said.