Pratapgarh police arrest suspect in goat theft case, recover stolen animal

Police in Pratapgarh have cracked a goat theft case and arrested one suspect in connection with the incident. Officers from Manikpur police station apprehended the accused and recovered one stolen black goat along with two thousand rupees obtained from selling other stolen goats.

According to police, seven goats belonging to Rabia wife of Ballu and other residents were stolen on 9 August from Pure Ali Naki village in the Manikpur area. A case was registered at Manikpur police station following the complaint. During investigation, the names of Shahbaz son of Abdul Salam, a resident of Katra Manikpur, and his accomplice Raju Sonkar alias Saudi emerged as suspects.

Acting on information from an informer, police arrested Shahbaz on 31 August from near village Chaukaparpur, approximately 200 meters inside from the Bitiyan Mela Ground gate towards Ganehru Bagh. One black goat was recovered from his possession. During interrogation, the accused confessed to stealing the goats along with his associate Raju Sonkar alias Saudi. He revealed that they had sold three of the stolen goats. Police also recovered two thousand rupees from the sale proceeds.

The recovered goat was identified by the complainant and returned to her. Based on the recovery and investigation, section 317(2)/3(5) of BNS has been added to the case. The arrested accused Shahbaz is stated to be approximately 28 years old. Police are pursuing further legal action against him. The operation was conducted under the direction of Superintendent of Police Pratapgarh Deepak Bhukar, with supervision from Additional Superintendent of Police West Brijnandan Rai and Circle Officer Kunda Shiv Narayan Vaish. The police team included Sub-Inspector Manoj Kumar Pandey and constables Manoj Yadav, Rajesh Pal and Aryan Kumar.