Maneka to recommend CBI inquiry against Belagavi police

Belagavi: Union women and child development minister and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi visited one of the cold storage units under the police lens on Thursday. This follows alleged inaction of police and other departments against three cold storage units in Auto Nagar here which were raided on Monday evening.
She ordered police officers to break the lock of the Seven Star Agro and Cold Storage Unit and inspected the place. Although owners of the units claim these are for storing agricultural products, including processed meat, for a longer period, she found several skeletons of cattle and skin fragmented cattle, besides a large quantity of processed meat.

The Monday raid followed information by volunteers of the Gau Gyan Foundation. Police registered a case but did not take any action. Maneka Gandhi took police and other officials to task for it. She said she’d recommend to the Union home ministry a CBI inquiry be conducted against police officers and officers of health and veterinary departments for deliberate inaction. She also alleged that officials hadn’t conducted a proper investigation and failed to take action following pressure from local politicians and accepting bribes from unit owners.

She said, “It looks like cows are being slaughtered and processed on a large scale in these units.” She added that she had information that many Bangladeshi women were working in the units. She said such women and men should be taken into custody immediately.

Opposition leader Jagadish Shettar, MPs Pralhad Joshi, Suresh Angadi, Rajya Sabha member Prabhakar Kore, MLA Sanjay Patil and other local BJP leaders were present.

Police make Maneka wait

Police officials made the minister wait for nearly 45 minutes to open the doors of the cold storage units.

Before her arrival, Pralhad Joshi, Jagadish Shettar, Prabhakar Kore and Suresh Angadi tried to convince police officials to open the gate of the unit but officials said they couldn’t do it as the the case is under investigation.

When Maneka went to the spot, she ordered DCP Mahaning Nandaganvi and ACP Shankar Marihal to open the main gate. After 15 minutes, DCP Seema Latkar came to the spot and opened the gate.

Maneka insisted the storeroom, sealed by police on Monday, be opened. Pralhad Joshi called city police commissioner DC Rajappa and conveyed the request, which was denied. Joshi warned that such behaviour was not fair. She told police officials they would face the music and she was ready to sit there for 24 hours, if needed. Over 30 minutes later, police broke the lock following the commissioner’s order.