Severed bovine head found in Ratlam, right-wing orgs stage protest

Indore: After the severed bovine head was allegedly found in the city’s Civic Centre area, tension prevailed in Ratlam, with protests by right-wing organisations that staged a road blockade while placing the remains on the street.During the investigation, Ratlam police recovered remains from a house belonging to a family from a nomadic community in the locality.ASP Vivek Lal said police teams found animal parts inside the house during searches, following which members of the family were booked and arrested. He said doctors from the animal husbandry department were called to examine the remains and determine whether they belonged to a cow or buffalo.The area where the remains were recovered reportedly falls partly on municipal land and partly on private property. Locals claimed a similar incident involving the same nomadic community living in temporary settlements had surfaced nearly a year ago. They alleged that despite assurances from the administration to remove illegal encroachments within a week, no action was taken.Members of right-wing organisations gathered at the spot and accused the administration of ignoring repeated complaints related to alleged cow slaughter in the area. ASP Lal, however, said the exact animal species would only be confirmed after the autopsy report.Carrying the remains, protesters raised slogans against the administration and marched from Lokendra Talkies Square towards Sailana Bus Stand before police stopped them midway. The agitators later sat on the road again, demanding that the municipal commissioner be called to the spot and action be initiated against civic officials.A heavy police force was deployed in the area to prevent escalation. In-charge CSP Ajay Sarwan, SDOP Kishore Patanwala, Traffic DSP Anand Soni and police station in-charges from across the city reached the spot along with senior administrative officials.SDM Archi Harit and other officials attempted to pacify protesters as tension continued in the locality. Additional collector Dr Shalini Srivastava, ASP Vivek Kumar Lal and Municipal Commissioner Anil Bhana later arrived at the site and held discussions with protesters to restore normalcy.