The police has booked four unidentified men for allegedly beating to death around a dozen puppies in Mumbai’s Goregaon in August, The Hindustan Times reported on Tuesday, quoting local officials.
A police case was registered regarding the incident by an animal rights NGO, the report said, adding that the suspects have been booked under section 429 of the Indian Penal Code and section 11(1)(a) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.
The Goregaon Police is trying to identify the suspects with the help of CCTV footage, a police official told HT.
"Local people have not been able to identify them yet, making us believe the suspects could be from some other place. An investigation is on,” the official added.
Swapnil Patel, a member of the Bombay Animal Rights team, had spotted these puppies in Jawahar Nagar on 28 August, according to Vijay Mohnani, another member from his team.
To save them from the rain, Patel reportedly shifted the puppies to a small tent-like structure on a footpath.
Patel told HT that he found 10 of the 12 puppies dead and two in critical condition, when he visited them in the night the next day. Their bodies were reportedly mutilated and their eyes were in bad shape.
A cash reward of Rs 25,000 on details of the accused has been announced by the Bombay Animal Rights Trust, the report said.
“A group of local people along with the police found two CCTV cameras which had captured the images of four suspects who could be responsible for the brutal act.”Mohnani, as quoted by HT
The police are trying to identify the men (seen in the CCTV footage) with the help of locals, Mohnani reportedly added.
A postmortem was conducted on the dead puppies at the Bombay Society For Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals in Parel, after which their bodies were cremated.
(With inputs from Hindustan Times)
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