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Bengaluru: Cow-vigilante’s false dog-meat claim triggers flurry of communal misinformation

Chaos ensued at the Bengaluru railway station on July 25 after a large shipment of meat reached there from Jaipur. In a video that has since gone viral on social…

The post Bengaluru: Cow-vigilante’s false dog-meat claim triggers flurry of communal misinformation appeared first on Alt News.

Chaos ensued at the Bengaluru railway station on July 25 after a large shipment of meat reached there from Jaipur. In a video that has since gone viral on social media, self-styled cow vigilante Puneeth Kerehalli and his cohort allege that the consignment was of dog meat. Several media outlets reported on the matter.

Republic published a report on the incident with the headline saying ‘Dog Meat Served In Bengaluru? Reports Claim Hundreds Of Kgs Imported Daily’. The report cites ‘sources’ as saying that over 4500 kg dog meat is brought into the city daily and that the alleged trade involves transporting the meat from other states, particularly Rajasthan. Here is an archive of the report.

Media portal India.com published a story where the headline said ‘Bengaluru: Dog Meat Served To People; Hundreds Of Kgs Imported Daily, Says Report’. (Archive)

Several social media users amplified the claim. Verified user @SaffronSunanda, who has been found sharing communal propaganda on a regular basis, tweeted on the incident and claimed that 14000 kg of dog meat was brought to Bangalore. A tweet by Republic Kannada that she used in her tweet has been deleted now. (Archive)

User @ssaratht tweeted a video of Puneeth Kerehalli and claimed that 14000 kilograms of dog meat had been brought in to supply to all hotels. Their tweet garnered around 6.5 Lakh views and over 6000 retweets. (Archive)

X user @ajaychauhan41 tweeted the video calling it a ‘big breaking news’. 14 tonnes of dog meat was intercepted in Karnataka, he claimed. (Archive)

Several other users amplified the viral claim, including @MrSinha_ . (Archives- 1, 2, 3, 4)

Click to view slideshow.

In the viral video, Kerehalli and his associates claim that the parcel from Rajasthan contained dog meat, which was allegedly sold as mutton to several hotels. Besides, it was mentioned that the meat was illegally transported from Rajasthan to Bangalore. They were heard asking if there was a meat shortage in Karnataka.

Fact Check

A day after the incident, on Saturday, July 27, the Karnataka Food Safety and Standards Department stated that meat samples had been collected from the shipment and sent for examination. They also said that legal action would subsequently be taken based on the findings.

Later, K Srinivas, the commissioner of food safety, clarified that the meat was not of a dog but of a special breed of goat called Sirohi, largely found in Rajasthan and the Kutch-Bhuj areas of Gujarat. These goats have an elongated tail and spots on them which make them appear similar to dogs. According to Srinivasa, the short supply of mutton and chevon compels some traders to source it from other states and sell it at an affordable rate. Karnataka lacks its own distinct varieties of goats, while Bengaluru ranks among the largest consumers of meat. Consequently, there is a shortfall in goat meat supply within the state. To address this gap and maintain affordable prices, lower-cost goat meat is sourced from other states and brought into Karnataka.

Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara confirmed on July 28 that laboratory reports had confirmed that the consignment contained goat meat. He stated, “Bringing meat from Rajasthan and selling it is the profession of those involved. They sell meat once a week or once every 15 days. The report confirmed that it is goat meat, not dog meat.”

Three FIRs had reportedly been filed in the matter — one over the transportation of meat, and two against cow vigilante Puneet Kerehalli for obstructing food quality department officials from discharging their duty and for unlawful assembly in a public place. Kerehalli was arrested on the night of July 26, after he and his associates had reportedly stormed the railway station and staged a protest, causing inconvenience to passengers. He accused the police and railway officials of being accomplices in the import of dog meat to adulterate meat served at non-veg restaurants in the city. He was later released on station bail.

To sum up, cow vigilante Puneet Kerehalli falsely claimed that a large shipment of dog meat had been brought to Bengaluru from Jaipur and it was picked up by media outlets, some of which claimed this was a common practice and dog meat was regularly served in restaurants in the city. The Karnataka Food Safety and Standards Department examined the meat and confirmed that it was goat meat.

Who is Puneet Kerehelli?

Alt News looked into the antecedents of Puneet Kerehelli, the cow vigilante from Karnataka, and found that he was one of the main suspects in the murder of Idrees Pasha, a Muslim cattle trader, in March 2023. On the night of March 31, Idrees Pasha, along with Syed Zaheer and Irfan, was stopped near Sathanur Circle in Ramanagara district by Puneeth Kerehalli and other cow vigilantes while Pasha was transporting 16 cows. Accusing them of illegal cattle transport, the vigilantes searched their van and live-streamed the incident. Seeing Zaheer was restrained by Kerehelli, Idrees and Irfan fled. Idrees Pasha’s body was found near the police station the next morning. His body showed signs of severe injuries. A relative described the dead body by saying that it “had turned black as if it had been electrocuted.”

Puneeth Kerehalli was arrested by Sathanur police in April, but was soon granted bail. He continued to post communally provocative content on his social media based on which City Police Commissioner B Dayananda ordered his arrest under the Goonda Act. This was quashed by the home department after a report by the state advisory board had suggested that there was a “lack of sufficient grounds“ to book him under the law.

As cow vigilantes from various parts of the country often do, Kerehalli live-streams several of his raids. In one, he was seen using a stun gun near NICE road, Electronic City.

Kerehelli has been photographed with several BJP leaders from Karnataka including former ministers CN Ashwath Narayan and BC Nagesh, BJP Yuva Morcha national president and South Bengaluru MP Tejasvi Surya, BJP MP Pratap Simha, Tamil Nadu state party president Annamalai, according to a report by The Quint.

Click to view slideshow.

 

 

The post Bengaluru: Cow-vigilante’s false dog-meat claim triggers flurry of communal misinformation appeared first on Alt News.


This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Shinjinee Majumder.


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