Cattle mutilation incidents may be attempts to incite tensions: HM G Parameshwara

Bengaluru: With the third reported case of cattle mutilation in a week, Home Minister G Parameshwara wondered on Monday whether the incidents were aimed at inciting tensions.

“There is a need to find a solution to this. I have instructed (officials) this morning to take up the matter strictly. It is essential to identify those with such mindsets — whether they are affiliated with any outfits, acting individually or being provoked by someone else. Senior officers have been directed to find out,” he told reporters during a news briefing at his residence in Bengaluru.

On Sunday, a pregnant cow was slaughtered on the Kondakuli hillock at Salkod village in Uttara Kannada district’s Honnavar taluk. The perpetrators discarded its foetus, limbs and horns after taking away its meat.

The black cow belonged to Krishna Narayan Achari, a resident of Salkod Kondakuli village. He told the police that he had been rearing the cow for a decade and had left it to graze on the hillock.

Four police teams are investigating the case. It was reported that two suspects were taken into custody on Monday but there is no official confirmation yet.

State BJP president B Y Vijayendra claimed that since the Congress came to power in Karnataka, cow-eaters had “become fearless of the law due to indifference towards the safety of cows and the politics of appeasement”.

“People won’t tolerate such repeated attacks on our culture. They are losing faith in the police due to the deteriorating law and order,” he stated.

On January 16, the tail of a two-year-old male calf was chopped off in Nanjangud, Mysuru district.

On January 12, a man from Bihar allegedly chopped the udders of three cows in Bengaluru’s Chamarajpet area. One cow lost a teat and had its udder damaged. The second cow had injuries to its udder and left leg, while the third cow suffered slash marks on a teat.