Police attacked while foiling cow slaughter attempt in Palghar; three people arrested

Palghar: A group of people allegedly attacked a police team when it foiled an attempt to transport cows for slaughter in Palghar district of Maharashtra, police said on Tuesday.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Monday at Dharanpada in Jawhar, district police commissioner Balasaheb Patil said.

Seven persons have been charged under Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 353 (assault or force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and the Maharashtra Animal Protection Act, he said.

Three defendants have been arrested and a manhunt has been launched for the others, the official said.

A police patrol team received information that cows from an orchard in the area were being loaded onto a truck and taken away for slaughter, he said.

The team searched the area and found the accused hiding on a hill, the official said.

The accused threw stones at the police during a chase and one of them tried to attack a policeman with a sickle, he said.

The team managed to arrest Soheb Khan Khalil Khan (26) and Sheikh Shabir Sheikh (22), both residents of Malegaon in Nashik, and Sumit Lazarus Kharat (32) of Ahmednagar district, the official said.

The accused said they had brought the cows to Malegaon for slaughter for the Eid-ul-Azha festival, he said.

Six cows and five calves were confiscated from the defendant and taken to a cattle shed, he said.