The Gujarat Police on Monday arrested seven people including the owners of an eatery in Vadodara after a scientific test confirmed that they were selling samosas containing cow meat. In Gujarat, cow slaughter is legally banned, and violations could invite a life term and penalty of Rs 1-5 lakh.
The eatery was identified by news reports as Hussaini Samosa Centre situated in Vadodara's Panigate area. The police raided the stall based on a tip-off and seized 113 kg of meat, India Today said in a report. When samples were sent to a forensic lab, the result confirmed it was cow meat, the report said. This led to the arrest of four employees of the Samosa Centre along with their owners -- identified as Naeem Sheikh and Yusuf Sheikh.
The seventh man picked up by the Vadodara Police in connection with the case was reportedly one Imran Qureshi, who was identified by the stall owners as their meat supplier.
The tip-off that led to the arrests reportedly told the cops that Hussaini Samosa Centre was selling beef samosas made of cow meat. A house was being used to store the meat, the informer revealed.
When the cops reached the house, they found 61 kilograms of ready-to-serve samosas and 152 kilograms of filling along with 113 kilograms of meat. When the samples were sent for testing, the results showed the meat used for the preparations was fully beef, the media reported a senior police officer as saying.
The police official further added that the eatery was running sans any license from the food safety department or the municipal corporation.