Karnataka: Ainapur tense as locals torch lorry transporting 'cow's meat'; 7 held

Tension prevailed at Ainapur in Kagwad taluk of the district after local residents set fire to a lorry allegedly transporting three tonnes of cow’s meat in the town on Monday night. 

Police have arrested seven people, including the suspects who were illegally transporting the meat and those who set the truck ablaze.     

The meat was being transported from Kudachi in Raibag taluk of the district to Hyderabad and it was hidden under ice slabs. 

The miscreants, said to be members of Hindu organisations, waylaid the lorry when it was crossing Ainapur and set it on fire. 

The truck had been reduced to ashes by the time police arrived at the spot. The miscreants assaulted the driver and cleaner, who sustained injuries. 

District Superintendent of Police Dr Bheemashankar Guled told reporters here that suspects - Vikas Ware and Sudhir Gasti from Ashta in Sangli district of Maharashtra and Saheblal Muthawale from Kudachi - had been arrested under the provisions of the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020, and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. 

“Police have taken the fourth suspect into custody in Kalaburagi and is being brought back here,” Guled said. 

Avesh Jiragale, Suhas Londe, Anil Savali and Sadashiv Kurandavade of Ainapur, seen in the video setting the vehicle on fire, have also been arrested by the police. 

An additional case under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, has been registered against them, since the lorry driver reportedly
belongs to the Dalit community. 

“The meat samples have been sent to the lab for tests, to find out if it is cow’s meat. The suspects had purchased the meat for a week now,” the SP said.