IN A high-stakes operation on Thursday, district administration and Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials, supported by a heavy police contingent, sealed the municipal slaughterhouse located in the Jinsi area of Jahangirabad. The decisive action follows a forensic breakthrough confirming that meat seized from a suspicious container last month was indeed prohibited beef. The primary operator of the facility, Aslam Qureshi, has been taken into custody. 

 

The controversy dates back to December 17, when activists from local outfits, led by Chandrashekhar Tiwari and Bhanu Hindu, intercepted a Meerut-registered container near the Police Headquarters. Alleging a massive inter-state and international beef smuggling racket operating out of the Jinsi slaughterhouse, activists alerted the authorities. Jahangirabad Police seized the vehicle, which was carrying 26.5 tons of processed meat, and sent samples to the Veterinary College Forensic Lab in Mathura for specialised testing.

 

The forensic report received on Wednesday definitively identified the samples as cattle progeny (beef). Investigations revealed that the consignment was linked to Livestock Food Processor Private Limited, the firm contracted to operate the Jinsi municipal slaughterhouse. Based on these findings, police arrested the slaughterhouse operator, Aslam Qureshi, and the truck driver, Shoaib, a resident of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. Officials are now tracing the supply chain to determine where the cattle were sourced and the final destination intended for the packaged meat.

 

High drama during sealing; fir registered: Tension prevailed in the Jinsi area on Thursday as municipal teams arrived to seal the premises. Activists gathered at the site, raising slogans and demanding the strictest possible punishment for the perpetrators. To prevent any communal flareup or law-and-order situation, the administration deployed additional security forces across the Jahangirabad locality.

 

Station House Officer (SHO) Man Singh Choudhary stated that an FIR has been registered under sections 4, 5, and 9 of the Madhya Pradesh Cow Slaughter Prohibition Act, 2004, along with Section 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). “Following the forensic confirmation of prohibited meat, we have immediately sealed the slaughterhouse. The operator and driver are being interrogated to expose the entire illegal network. No one involved in this trade will be spared,” said SHO Choudhary