Madhya Pradesh: 15 Racehorses, Brought to Jabalpur From Hyderabad

Bhopal: Fifteen racehorses, brought to Raipura farmhouse in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur district from Hyderabad in May this year, have been found ‘missing’.

This came to light during the routine health check of the horses in the farmhouse by a veterinary officials team of the Madhya Pradesh government late on Thursday.

“We have found 15 horses missing in the farmhouse during our routine visit to the site on Thursday for the health checkup of the racehorses. They have been shifted to some other location without informing us”, Dr Prafulla Moon, deputy director, state veterinary department, told this newspaper on Friday.

According to him, the department wrote a letter to the owner of the farmhouse, Sachin Tiwari, seeking an explanation from him in this regard.

“He (Tiwari) is yet to respond to our letter”, he said.

The veterinary team promptly reported the matter to Jabalpur district collector Raghavendra Singh leading him to order a probe into the matter.

“This is a serious matter. Interrogation of the owner of the farmhouse will be done to ascertain about the missing horses. A fresh FIR regarding missing horses will be registered, if needed”, Mr. Singh said on Friday.

The incident has created a ripple in the local administration since the matter is pending in the Madhya Pradesh high court.

According to Dr Moon, 23 racehorses, shifted to the farmhouse from Hyderabad, have been found present in the Raipura facility currently.

As many as 57 racehorses were translocated to Raipura farmhouse from Hyderabad in April-May this year.

Of them, 19 have died so far for various reasons.

The deaths of the horses sparked outrage among the animal lovers leading the local administration to register an FIR against Hyderabad-based Hetha Net India Pvt. Ltd and stud handler Sachin Tiwari in a local police station in the case.

The FIR was lodged in the Panagar police station on September two based on the complaint by a senior veterinary officer in Jabalpur district Dr Hemalata Jain.

The complaint alleged that the animals were subjected to cruelty during their transportation in trucks from Hyderabad Race Club to the Thakur Farm in Raipura village in April- May this year.

Dr Jain in her complaint said 19 out of 57 racehorses brought to the farm from Hyderabad have died so far. She attributed the death of the animals to the cruel manner of their transportation and inadequate shelter place.

“The farm where the horses were given shelter is a cattle shed, built for animals and buffaloes. Adequate arrangements for keeping the horses in the farm are not made, which establishes cruelty towards these animals”, the FIR said.