Gonda: The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), Lucknow unit, has arrested a wanted accused carrying a reward of ₹50,000 in connection with a cow smuggling case registered in Gonda district.
The arrested accused has been identified as Mohammad Bilal, son of Ajit, a resident of Ward No. 17, Lalbagh Kaneta Road under Hasanpur police station in Amroha district. He was wanted in Case No. 5/2024 registered at Parsapur Police Station under sections 3/5A/8 of the Cow Slaughter Act and Section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act. A reward of ₹50,000 had been announced for his arrest.
According to officials, the STF received information that the wanted accused was hiding in Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh. Acting on the intelligence input, an STF team reached Shop No. 03, Sai Market in the Kotwali Dehat police station area of Shivpuri and arrested the accused on March 8, 2026 at around 1:00 PM.
The operation was conducted under the supervision of Sanjeev Kumar Dixit, Additional Superintendent of Police, STF Lucknow. The team involved in the arrest included Sub-Inspector Pratap Narayan Singh, Head Constable Dilip Yadav, Head Constable Kuldeep Singh, Head Constable Bhupendra Singh, Head Constable Shiv Bhola Shukla and driver Afzal.
During interrogation, the accused reportedly revealed that he was part of an organized gang involved in illegal transportation and smuggling of cattle from states such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar to other states including West Bengal.
Police officials stated that on January 5, 2024, the accused along with his associates was loading cattle into a truck (UP-23-T-9471) when they fled the spot after receiving information about the arrival of local police. Following the incident, a case was registered at Parsapur police station in Gonda, after which the accused escaped and went into hiding in Madhya Pradesh.
Authorities said further legal action is being taken and investigations are underway to identify and apprehend other members of the gang involved in the illegal cattle smuggling network.
