Cops nab Kausar from Hasnabad

Kolkata: Police arrested Kausar Ali Dhali, the kingpin of the racket that used to sell dead chicken, from a village at Hasnabad in North 24-Parganas on Thursday morning.

Police said that he had a plan to flee to Bangladesh, to avoid getting arrested. He was booked under

different sections of the Indian

Penal Code (IPC) and section 51 of the Food Safety and Security Act, 2006.

With the arrest of Kausar, the total number of people arrested in this connection rose to six. Earlier, police had arrested five people during a raid at the chicken farm owned by Kausar in New Town.

The raid was conducted on April 27 and police had recovered a huge quantity of carcass meat from the refrigerators in the farm. Investigation had revealed that they used to preserve dead chicken in the refrigerators, which was sold to different eateries.

Kausar had managed to flee from the farm when the raid was conducted. The police were in search of Kausar for the past few weeks. It was on Wednesday that the police received a tip-off that he was hiding in a village in Hasnabad. A team comprising police officers from Airport Police Station and Detective department conducted a raid and arrested Kausar.

The police had earlier conducted raids in the houses of Kausar and

had also visited his in-laws' house. But he had managed to flee every time.

Police came to know during the investigation that he had been hopping from one village to another in Hasnabad and its adjoining places to avoid getting arrested.

The reason behind taking shelter in a hideout in the bordering area was that he was in search of the moment when he could flee to the neighbouring country.

Investigation has further revealed that he had initiated his business of selling chicken a few years ago. He later stepped into the illegal trade of selling dead chicken to eateries and made fast money.

The police have started questioning him and are trying to find out names of other people who were involved in the racket.

Sources said that the police are also going to prepare a list containing names of the eateries to which Kausar had supplied carcass meat, following which they would take further steps.