The police achieved a major breakthrough against the illegal smuggling of cattle from Punjab to Jammu and Kashmir, thanks to the vigilance of the ‘Sanyukt Gau Raksha Dal’ (Joint Cow Protection Group). The group’s national president, along with an associate, chased a Mahindra pickup truck involved in smuggling for several kilometers and cornered the smugglers in the village of Bilga.
Case registered against absconding smugglers; investigation initiated
Realizing they were cornered, the two unidentified cattle smugglers abandoned the pickup truck at the scene and fled, taking advantage of the darkness and the surrounding fields. The police safely recovered four bulls and one cow from the vehicle, seized the truck, and have registered a case against the absconding smugglers to initiate an investigation. In his official statement to the police, the complainant and national president of the Sanyukt Gau Raksha Dal, Gurpreet Singh, stated that on September 10, he was traveling towards Ladowal in his car with his associate, Manik Goyal, for personal work. Upon reaching the Southern Bypass, they received a tip-off from a reliable source that cattle were being cruelly loaded into a white Mahindra pickup truck (Vehicle No. HP-37G-5215) and transported to Jammu and Kashmir for slaughter. Acting on this information, members of the Gau Raksha Dal set up a blockade on the Southern Bypass and began monitoring for the suspicious vehicle. Shortly thereafter, the white Mahindra pickup with the specified registration number was spotted approaching from the direction of the Verka plant. When the Gau Raksha Dal members signaled the driver to stop, he accelerated instead of stopping and attempted to flee.
4 bulls and 1 cow recovered; animals found cruelly tied and loaded
Without wasting any time, the office-bearers of the Gau Raksha Dal began chasing the suspicious pickup truck in their own car. As the vehicles being pursued reached the vicinity of Bilga village—falling under the jurisdiction of the Sahnewal police station—the two unidentified accused on board abandoned their pickup truck in the middle of the road and managed to flee, realizing the path was narrowing and they were being cornered. Upon inspecting the abandoned pickup, members of the *Gau Raksha Dal* (Cow Protection Group) discovered four bulls and one cow (totaling five bovines) that had been loaded and bound with extreme cruelty. A police team from Sahnewal station arrived at the scene immediately after being informed of the incident. The police safely rescued the animals, arranged for their medical treatment and fodder at a nearby *gaushala* (cow shelter), and impounded the Mahindra pickup (HP-37G-5215) used in the smuggling operation. According to police officials, a case has been registered against the two unidentified absconding accused based on the complainant’s statement, invoking charges related to cow smuggling, the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. The police are now investigating the vehicle’s actual ownership and challan records using its Himachal Pradesh registration number to facilitate the early arrest of the accused linked to this interstate cow-smuggling syndicate.
