Seven people have been arrested and a marriage hall sealed in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district in the wake of allegations that beef was cooked and served during a wedding reception at a marriage hall in Kairana.
Those arrested are the groom’s father, two cooks and the owner of the marriage venue. The raiding follows a police operation on June 18 at Mughal Garden Marriage Home, police said, and they had a tip-off about alleged ban on consumption of meat during Walima ceremony.
As the operation was underway, police allegedly recovered cooked meat “suspected to be beef. The investigators allege that the meat was brought in after an animal was slain in the vicinity of the Yamuna river flood plain and brought to the wedding ground, where it was cooked and fed to wedding participants.
Groom Farman’s father Furqan, cooks Ashfaq and Zulfikar and marriage hall owner Anees have all been arrested. Other people and the groom were already arrested for the investigation, carried out some time before.
“The inquiry suggested that the killing, transport, preparation and serving of the meat was an organised camp, revealed Additional Superintendent of Police Sumit Shukla. Police opened cases under the relevant laws and still investigate this.
The whole incident has raised considerable interest across the region and authorities have said that additional action will be taken following forensic examination of the seized samples, as well as evidence collected in the probe.