Rotten meat: West Bengal government likely to form SIT

A senior state police officer told IBNS that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) will be formed very soon to probe the matter and uproot such kind of rackets from West Bengal.

Earlier on Apr 19, locals caught two persons, including a staffer of local municipality, red handed while they were allegedly taking dead animals' flesh away from a dumpyard at Budge Budge area in Kolkata's neighbouring South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

After quizzing the duo, another person was booked from Budge Budge area and later police nabbed five more persons, including a CPI-M leader, from several parts of West Bengal while one of the kingpins of the racket, Sunny Malik, was arrested from Nawada in Bihar.

"We have arrested nine persons so far in connection with the international carcass meat supply racket and our investigation is on to catch others involved in the case," a senior official of Diamond Harbour Police District told IBNS.

"We've already raided several cold-storage in Kolkata and few other locations in the state and recovered huge amount of carcass meat as well as rotten chicken meat," the official said.

A source in the police told IBNS that as many as five linkmen involved in the racket have been identified and police's manhunt is underway to catch them.

"We have accessed the names of food supply chains, restaurants, hotels and departmental stores where these carcass meat were being supplied for last few months or years," the source said. 

The police have said that chemicals were used in order to avoid rotting of the flesh and to  get rid of the stench before the meat was packed and supplied to markets in West Bengal and neighbouring states.

The meat revelation leaves foodies shocked:

The revelation related to the processed meat being sourced from dumping grounds has left foodies in Kolkata shocked.

Priyam Mallick, a school teacher in Liluah, said she is currently avoiding eating meat outside.

"I love to eat meat and this entire episode left me shocked. I am avoiding consuming outside foods these days," she said.

Tumita Hazra, a housewife in Kolkata, said she cleans the meat for at least 20 minutes before cooking them as a precautionary measure.

"I came to know about the news related to stale meat being supplied to different food joints in Kolkata. I really feel sad how some people try to make business even by destroying others health. I generally don't eat outside. But even when I bring fresh meat from market I try to clean it for 20 minutes before cooking the food."

61-year-old Manju Ghosh, who stays in Shyambazar area of north Kolkata, shared that she recently preferred to eat prawn and paneer than eating meat when she went out for a dinner with her family.

"I avoided meat recently when I went for a dinner with my family at a restaurant nearby. It is not that they are serving me bad food. But, I am not feeling like eating meat outside specially after coming to know about the processed meat episode. I was happy eating prawn and paneer and will continue doing so," she said.

Meat episode leaves online world buzzing too: 

The entire meat episode even left netizens shocked as several of them could be seen sharing their thoughts or simply urging people to avoid eating meat outside for the next few days.

One Gargi Bagchi tweeted: "Waste Bengal sold dead rotten animal meat: ... ewww, yuk... i feel like vomiting... i will never recommend anyone to try any non-veg meat food item in Kolkata and in West Bengal, India... can't believe that dead animals."

Another netizen Abhishek posted: "Any one traveLling to/living in kolkata/West Bengal please avoid eating non veg outside for few days as huge rocket supplying rotten meat to large number of restaurants is busted few days ago and Investigations are going on #Kolkata #Bengal #ROTTENMEAT."

Biswajit Howladar, who uses Twitter regularly, posted: "West Bengal People's now are eating meat (Rotten)."

 

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha, Image: Wikimedia Commons)