Mumbai cops to file charge sheet against meat seller

MUMBAI Jun 2, 2015 (Agency) : The police have planned to go ahead and a file a charge sheet against the Worli meat seller, Akram Qurshi, whose stock has now been proved to be buffalo meat. However, the meat seller and his neighbors want the harassment to end. It's not his fault that he has no licence as BMC inspectors always demand bribes. The locals in the area want the harassment from multiple agencies to the 56-year-old meat seller should end. What has added another angle to this is the complaint that seems to have come from a right-wing organization."Qureshi had been pleading to the policemen that it was buffalo meat but they had become mute spectators and those who complained were threatening the cops. They were from some right wing outfit who even told cops that if they did not take action instantly, they would drag the police in the court," said one of Qureshi's neighbors. The butcher's ground floor house was locked. "He has gone to Pune. The policemen have been harassing him for a long time. The cops would regularly come to his shop to collect hafta even before the case was registered," said another local.Sharad Gupta, a Worli resident and lecturer at Mulund College of Commerce, who is a member of the Bharti Gau Vansh Rakshan Samvardhan Parishad, had filed a police complaint against Qureshi (56), saying he was selling beef. The police on May 12 seized 29kg meat valuing at around Rs 5,800 and sent it for a Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) analysis. The doctor on June 1 sent his report to the police that it was buffalo's meat and not



beef. The state government has banned the sell and purchase of beef in the state since March this year. This was the first case in Mumbai after the beef ban."We will be filing a charge sheet against Qureshi under the other charges he has been booked like illegal slaughter of animal. The cops will also attach the doctor's report with it. He has not furnished any documentary evidence or gave any name of the person from where he purchased the meat, if he did not slaughter," said Vinay Kulkarni, senior inspector of Worli police. The police said that they are recording statements of witnesses in the case. However, no police team/officer till date visited the Deonar abattoir from where meat would be delivered to Qureshi, as he had earlier stated.Locals said that even though Qureshi's shop is closed and he has no means of income now to run his family, some "suspicious people" come to inquire if the meat is being sold. "We are trying to confirm our suspicion. Once its done, we will hand over them to the police for their suspicious manner and entering to this compound," said a local. The youngsters in the area are now keeping an eye on such suspicious people, it is learnt.The police had booked Qureshi under various sections of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, BMC Act and Bombay Police Act. The amended Animal Preservation Act, enforced in the state in March, bans the slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks and also consumption and possession of their meat. Violation of the law is punishable with a maximum jail term of five years and a fine of Rs 10,000.