Over a hundred goats that were rescued by the police in Uttar Pradesh's Noida in June 2021 have gone missing from an animal shelter in Noida, prompting a fresh investigation into their disappearance.
Police have lodged an FIR under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) against the manager of the animal shelter after the complainant, to whom the goats belonged, approached the local court for their release.
"The case pertains to an incident of cruelty against animals which took place in 2021. A fresh FIR has been lodged at the Sector 20 police station over the matter and the police are now investigating it further," Assistant Commissioner of Police (Noida zone 1) Rajneesh Verma said.
According to the FIR, lodged on the basis of a complaint by Sector 20 police station in-charge Manoj Kumar Singh, the goats – 49 of them male and 61 female – were being transported from Delhi to Auriya in Uttar Pradesh in a pick-up truck registered in Etawah. The goats, which were badly stuffed inside the truck, were rescued by the Noida Police after they intercepted the vehicle at the Jhandupura border and an FIR lodged under provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals Act, the SHO stated.
"After they were rescued, the goats were handed over to an animal shelter in Sector 94 on the condition that the expenses of taking care of the goats would be borne by the man (Santosh Kumar) to whom they belonged. The person agreed and even remitted the money in the local court here," the FIR stated. Last year itself, the court had passed an order that the 110 goats be handed over to Kumar, who then approached the animal shelter's manager Yogendra Kumar but till date could not get his livestock back despite multiple reminders and notices, it stated.
"This non-compliance of the court order makes it a crime under IPC 406 by the animal shelter's manager," the police station in-charge stated in the complaint.
According to a police official, the animal shelter's manager allegedly informed Kumar last year that all his goats died due to illness.
The police, who are now probing the case of the missing goats, have sought post mortem reports and other documented details of the livestock from the shelter manager, the official added.
When contacted, a Noida Authority official said they were not aware of any "large scale" death of livestock at the animal shelter in Sector 94. "The management of the shelter has been outsourced to a private group," official added.
