NOIDA: An IT professional residing in Lotus Boulevard, Sector 100 allegedly thrashed a ten-month old Labrador puppy with his belt repeatedly and banged himself against the wall resulting in the puppy’s femur getting fractured and injuries all over his body.
In three videos of the incident which have gotten viral on Twitter, a dog lover staying in the society shared the alleged brutality meted out with the dog by the accused.
The incident pertains to Wednesday when a volunteer of People for Animals (PFA) heard the cries of the puppy and started filming the incident.
In one of the three videos made by the volunteer, the accused Rishabh Mehta who stays in a flat in tower 26 of the society, can be seen thrashing the dog with a belt at least seven times even as the dog continues to scream in pain.
Another video shows Mehra allegedly picking up the dog and banging him against the floor of the flat.
The videos were captured by the volunteer and sent to the office of BJP leader and PFA founder BJP leader Maneka Gandhi.
Kaveri Rana, president of the Gautam Budh Nagar chapter of the PFA told TOI that Maneka took cognisance of the video and spoke to police commissioner Alok Singh following which a team of police was sent to the society along with PFA volunteers to rescue the dog.
"A PFA volunteer was sent to the spot and the dog was rescued. When the team reached the spot, Mehra was asked the reason for his act and he simply said that the dog had been littering the house and would poop inside the house. The dog was taken to the government veterinary hospital in Barola where his medico-legal procedure was conducted after seeking relevant permissions and it was found that his femur was broken resulting in a life-long injury to the dog along with injuries on his thighs and his genitals. The dog is in trauma and is currently in our custody,” she said.
Meanwhile, a police officer told TOI that the man claimed to the police that he was giving traing to the dog to poop outside using a training stick.
Additional DCP (Noida) Ranvijay Singh told TOI that the video shows that the accused had indeed beaten up the puppy and an FIR has been lodged in the case under IPC section 428 (mischief by killing or maiming animal of the value of ten rupees).
The accused Rishabh Mehra who is an IT professional was at the flat with his wife at the time of the incident and police says her parents too stay there.
Rana said the puppy was bought from an illegal breeder about eight months back.
Meanwhile, the video has seen thousands of retweets with Bollywood actors Ranvir Shorey, Zareen Khan, popular news personality Richa Anirudh and controversial writer Abhijit Iyer-Mitra calling for help and action in the case.
The dog is currently in custody of the PFA activists.