Representative image of a cow.
Credit: iStock Photo
Seoni (MP): The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday invoked the stringent National Security Act (NSA) against two men accused of involvement in cow slaughter, and transferred the district collector and superintendent of police.
The additional director general of the police's Criminal Investigation Department will investigate the case, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced on X.
Late at night the CM also tweeted that Seoni collector Kshitij Singhal and SP Rakesh Kumar Singh had been transferred.
Sanskruti Jain has been appointed as new collector, a government release said.
Carcasses of more than 40 cows were found in a river and a forested area in the district two days ago, following which five people were arrested.
"No crime against gau mata (mother cow) will be tolerated. CID ADG Pawan Shrivastava and his team have been assigned the job of carrying out a high-level probe into the barbaric killings," CM Yadav wrote on his X handle.
"Every accused involved in the case would face tough action," he stated.
Seoni police, during the day, produced four accused in the local court, which sent Santosh Kavreti (40) and Ramdas Uike (30) in judicial custody and remanded Shadab Khan (27) and Wahid Khan (28) in police custody for three days.
NSA was invoked against Shadab and Wahid, police officials said.
One more accused, Irfan Mohammad (57), was arrested on Saturday.
All the accused have been booked under the MP Anti Cow Slaughtering Act, 2004, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, and Indian Penal Code sections related to provoking communal tensions.
The offence of cow slaughter attracts imprisonment of up to seven years in the state.