GREATER NOIDA: A goat with a voracious appetite for fodder and a matching penchant for mystery was at the centre of an absorbing investigation by cops at Bilaspur police chowki to find its real owner from among three suitors, allegations of theft, and accusations of wrongdoing against a sub-inspector.
The goat landed up at the police chowki exactly a week ago, on October 19, rescued from two juveniles who were allegedly trying to sell it. For days, it stayed tethered to a pole there before ending up at the house of a ‘local guardian’. The docile animal, with a speckled black and white coat, did not seem to mind the upheaval – it devoured fodder and bleated gently, quite at ease at the house of Nadim Salmani, a resident of the Dankaur area.
However, some locals complained to Abdul Qadir, ACP – III (Greater Noida) that the chowki in-charge Sanjeev Rathi had sold the goat to Salmani. Asked about it, Salmani said the goat was given to him by the local police. “I was asked to take care of the animal till its owner is found. We realised soon after that it was a tough job to keep it. The animal ate fodder worth Rs 200 and also dirtied the house,” he said, adding he had to return the animal to the cops.
In the meantime, people came forward to claim the goat. One of them was from Chuharpur village, while the second is the father of one of the juveniles who tried to sell the goat. Both claims fell short on proof of ownership. Cops trying to track down the goat’s original home ran out of leads soon.
Then, a third person approached the cops with a newspaper clipping. She identified herself as Gulshan from Rabupura. Police found that the woman had uploaded pictures of a missing goat and requested people to help her. A senior police officer said, “Gulshan had come to the chowki on Monday with a clipping of a Hindi newspaper and claimed the goat belonged to her. She had also uploaded pictures on Facebook. When we matched the pictures, we saw that the goat indeed belonged to her.”
Further investigation revealed that the juveniles who tried to sell the goat had stolen it from the woman. And when a police team reached the juvenile’s house in Mehndipur village, they had already fled.
Additional DCP (Greater Noida) Vishal Pandey told TOI that the owner of the goat had been identified, and the animal had been handed over to her on Monday. “The woman from Rabupura is the actual owner of the animal. We also investigated the allegations of corruption against the SI and found it to be false. Some residents were upset with the officer as he had allegedly misbehaved with them while issuing a challan and so they complained against him,” he said, adding that an internal inquiry will also be launched into the matter.