Jalandhar: 13 nabbed after raid at factory

Jalandhar, August 7

The Jalandhar (Rural) police raided the premises of a factory in Dhogri here last night and arrested 13 people following a complaint by Satish Kumar, president, All-India Gau Dal. The complainant had alleged that packaging and transportation/smuggling of beef was taking place on the factory premises.

A total of 16 persons, including the factory owner, have been booked and 13 of them arrested. The police said they were on the lookout for the rest of the accused.

Of the 16 people in the FIR, four have been named.

Owner yet to be arrested

The police are on the lookout for factory owner Imran. He had brought labourers 15 days ago to the factory & left them here. He had leased the factory in May. —Mukhwinder Bhullar, SSP

The FIR has been registered against factory owner Imran Qureshi, Parvesh Qureshi, Azam Qureshi, Muzaffar Islam and 12 others at the Adampur police station in Jalandhar. The accused have been booked under Sections 295-A, 153-A and 120-B of the IPC and Sections 5 and 8 of the Punjab Prohibition of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955.

As per preliminary information, the arrested accused were from West Bengal and their antecedents were being verified.

In his complaint to the police, Satish Kumar had alleged that the factory, which had been closed earlier, had been rented to Imran Qureshi, a resident of Meerut a few months ago.

Kumar alleged that cows were being brought from other parts of the country to the factory and their meat was being packed here and refrigerated.

SSP Mukhwinder Bhullar said: “Thirteen people were arrested from the factory and as per their IDs, they are residents of West Bengal.”

The BJP, VHP and Bajrang Dal took up the issue with the district administration today, seeking strict action against the accused.