Police on Tuesday exhumed carcasses of 21 dogs on the campus of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) Township at Ranipet.
Last week, animal activist T.B. Somanathan had alerted district officials that about 40 dogs – both stray and pet animals – were reportedly poisoned to death in Ranipet.
He had then said that the office of Union Minister Maneka Gandhi had received information from an animal lover regarding the killing, and he was alerted by the Minister. Following this, a police complaint was lodged with SIPCOT station and an inquiry was launched.
“During inquiry, we found that the dogs were buried on the campus of BHEL Township at Ranipet. On Tuesday, we exhumed carcasses of 21 dogs in the presence of revenue and animal husbandry officials. These dogs were buried in a garbage dumping site near a water body on the BHEL campus,” Rajangam, inspector of Ranipet police station, said.
Tahsildar of Walajah, assistant director of Animal Husbandry department, Ranipet, and police attached to SIPCOT station were present during the exhumation. The police officer said that post mortem was also conducted.
“We will arrest those responsible for the death of the animals soon,” he added.
Officials of the Animal Husbandry Department said that specimens had been lifted from the animals and would be sent for forensic analysis to determine the cause of death of the dogs.
