2 More Racehorses, Brought To MP From Hyderabad, Go Missing

“A veterinary team visited the farmhouse on Monday and found two more racehorses missing. With this, a total 17 horses in the farmhouse have so far been found missing”, Dr Prafulla Moon, deputy director, state veterinary department, told this newspaper.

The team had found 15 racehorses missing during its last visit to the farmhouse over a week ago. Meanwhile, one more horse in the farmhouse died taking the death toll to 20, Dr Moon said.

The veterinary team has found 20 horses present during its visit to the farmhouse on Monday. Stud farm owner Sachin Tiwari has reportedly refused to provide details about the ‘missing’ horses to the local administration.

“Three correspondences have so far been made with him (Tiwari) by the district administration to know details about the missing horses. But he has not responded to any of them”, a senior district veterinary officer said.

Sources said that the veterinary team visited the farmhouse on Tuesday to interrogate Tiwari but he could not be contacted.

“Tiwari wanted us to talk to his lawyer in the matter since the issue is sub-judice”, a senior district officer said. The matter is pending before the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

Jabalpur district collector Raghavendra Singh had earlier said a fresh FIR would be against Tiwari in connection with the ‘missing’ horses.

“The district administration is not in a position to force Tiwari to disclose information about the missing horses since the High Court has not barred him from shifting the animals to other places,” a district officer said, unwilling to be identified.

The High Court has only directed Tiwari to present before it the present status of the horses and their medical conditions, he said. He said that the district administration is taking legal opinion to progress further in the matter.