PATNA: Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) member Neeru Gupta on Saturday alleged that more than 7,000 cattle were illegally slaughtered in Muzaffarpur and its neighbouring areas for producing 5 lakh kg of
beef, which was seized from Alpha Leathers, a slaughterhouse in the industrial area owned by Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) under Bela police station in Muzaffarpur district on January 28.
Another slaughterhouse, Alam Tannery, was unearthed by AWBI in the same area on January 30. "At Alam Tannery, only 500kg of beef was recovered," Gupta, an officer of AWBI, affiliated with Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change, said. In Bihar, cow slaughter was banned way back in 1950s.
"Over 7,000 cows or buffalos were slaughtered for producing 500-tonne beef. The two slaughterhouses in Muzaffarpur were more than a decade old," she said, adding beef from Bihar were being transported to other states by forging papers before being exported to the Middle East and European countries.
"Slaughterhouses in Bihar were part of a racket involved in beef export in the country. Documents related to purchase of slaughtering equipment were recovered from the premises of Alpha Leathers," she said.
Gupta added packaging materials seized from Alpha Leathers were printed with 'calf meat' and 'buffalo meat'. "If calves were being slaughtered, then it has to be at least 14,000 calves for producing 500-tonne beef," she said.
"We had information that 5 lakh kg of beef was stored at Alam Tannery, but it was removed two days before the raid. It was evident that area was cleaned few hours before our team reached there," Gupta said.
She said AWBI also had information about a third location at Tazpur in Samastipur district where a slaughterhouse was running, but raids could not be conducted there due to time constraints.
"Alpha Leathers was owned by Ankit Kapoor and Dr Parwez Akhtar and Alam Tannery by Hazi Atique and Rizwan. Global Food Internationals, a Delhi-based firm owned by Kapoor, was the main purchaser of beef from this slaughterhouse. Alam Tannery, on the other hand, was supplying beef to Uttar Pradesh-based Omar Internationals Private Limited," Gupta added.
