Siddhima/JeRan Unbreakable Bond:We Are Same Same But Different - Page 79

The Chembur police arrested two people a day after CCTV footage showed them and their accomplice stoning a stay dog to death. The accused - Sham Rafukya and Sunny Lokhande - both residents of Vijaynagar in Chembur were held late on Saturday.

They were released after paying Rs 10,000 for bail on Sunday. A third person is yet to be arrested.

The arrests come a day after Mumbai Mirror reported how residents and locals demanded the accused be arrested. The report said the residents alleged inaction by the police to register an FIR against the accused.

The cops, the residents alleged, offered to settle the case by telling the residents that the dogs were killed in a fit of anger. One of the accused said he was bitten by the stray and he killed it in an act of self-defence.

Only a few weeks ago, residents had found a few stray dogs lying dead with injuries on their face. They had initially assumed they had been run over by vehicles, but they feel that the accused were responsible for the death of those dogs as well, following the CCTV footage.

The CCTV cameras had been installed by Kumar Chetty, a security manager, outside his residence on Inlaks Hospital Road. The CCTV cameras captured two men assaulting the dogs - one of which is owned by Chetty. The men managed to kill the stray, but Chetty's dog Tiger managed to escape after breaking away from its leash.

Chetty found his dog missing on Saturday morning and went hunting for it. He later found the accused holding Tiger's leash. He was told by a witness that a stray was lying dead near a dumping ground and that there was another dog that looked frightened.

Tiger was reunited with Chetty a few hours later.

Chetty then went to the Chembur police station and complained about the incident. However, the cops did not file a complaint. The residents then called up animal activist Bimlesh Narani, who got the cops to regis-ter a complaint against the accused. An FIR was finally registered at 11 pm on Saturday and two of the three accused were arrested.

"One of the accused works in Inlaks General Hospital as a ward boy," said Navani. "Police officials first delayed taking a complaint and later told me to settle the case," said Navani. The accused have been booked under section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming an animal) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.

"The accused said they were bitten by the dog, which is why they attacked the animal. Killing a dog for any reason is not acceptable. We did not neglect out duty. We are ready to cooperate with the locals and will investigate the case further," said Police Inspector Subash Khanvilkar of Chembur Police Station.

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/crime/Dog-killers-held-after-initial-reluctance-by-cops/articleshow/20286520.cms