Thane: Police have arrested a 28-year-old man on charges of illegal slaughter of animals and transportation of the meat in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said.
A police team on patrol duty spotted a tempo moving near a roadside eatery in Bhiwandi area on the Nashik-Mumbai highway on Sunday morning.
Based on suspicion, they stopped the tempo and on inspection found the vehicle was carrying 2,000 kg of animal meat valued at Rs 3.10 lakh, the official from Narpoli police station said on Monday.
The police subsequently arrested the tempo occupant, hailing from Govandi in neighbouring Mumbai, and registered a case against him and another absconding accused under Indian Penal Code sections 429 (mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless an animal) and 34 (common intention) and provisions of the Maharashtra Animal Preservation Act, he said.
The police were trying to find out from where the accused got the meat and to whom they planned to deliver it, the official said.