BY TC News Desk
Agartala, 21st February 2024: A police sub-inspector has been accused of selling two buffaloes that he was supposed to recover and return to their owner in Dharmanagar sub-division. The buffaloes were among the three bovines that were stolen from a cowshed in Sreepur on the night of February 18.
The owner of the cowshed, Kanti Nath, filed a complaint with the Dharmanagar Police Station on February 19. He also informed the second officer of the police station, Momtaz Hasina, about the possible location of the two buffaloes near Ichai Lal Rham Sonapur School at Dharmanagar.
Hasina assigned sub-inspector Manoj Pal to find and retrieve the buffaloes. However, instead of bringing them to the police station, Pal allegedly sold them for a large sum of money. The whereabouts of the third bovine, a cow, are still unknown.
The incident sparked outrage among the locals, who staged a protest outside the Dharmanagar Police Station on February 21. They demanded the arrest and punishment of the sub-inspector and the thieves, as well as the recovery and return of the buffaloes and the cow to the cowshed.
Kanti Nath, who runs the Gorakhnath Goshala, also appealed to the administration to take action against the culprits and ensure the safety of his animals. He said that he had lost faith in the police and their ability to protect the people and their property.
The case of buffalo theft in Dharmanagar is not an isolated one. Similar incidents have been reported in other parts of the country, some of them dating back to decades. In some cases, the accused have been arrested after years of evading the law, while in others, the cases remain unsolved.
