Thakur Raja Singh, BJP MLA from Telangana on Monday visited the cow shelter in Kothuru Tadepalli village of Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district where almost 100 cows were found dead on Friday and said he suspected a "conspiracy by external forces".
"There is a chance of conspiracy by some external forces. Meticulous plan for months together might be behind this incident. I will appeal to the state govt to thoroughly investigate the matter and bring the culprits to justice," Singh told reporters here.
Singh was accomped by BJP Andhra Pradesh MLC PVN Madhav, who agreed with him and urged the state government to set up a high-level probe to investigate the matter.
"The state government should order a high-level committee probe with police, forensic and veterinary departments. What the government has done is mere lip service, the shelter has desi cows saved from the hands of anti-social elements, so there might be a bigger hand behind the incident," Madhav said.
Madhav further said that so many cows dying during the auspicious Saawan month is bad for the state and demanded a "Shanti Hawan" to be performed.
A caretaker of the cow shelter had said on Saturday that they noticed the deaths of cows post-midnight and immediately informed the police.
"The cow shelter's secretary called last night and said that many cows have died. I was shocked to hear that. I suggested him to immediately file a complaint. He informed the police later in the night. Also, we have informed officials in the mal husbandry department. They reached here at around 7:00 am and now post mortem is being done. The cause of the death can only be ascertained after the post mortem report," said Vinod Kumar Raj Purohit, member of the cow shelter.
The police are now waiting for the post mortem report to take action.
mal husbandry department officials had suggested that suffocation might be the reason behind the death of the cows. However, they ruled out the possibility of food poisoning.
( With inputs from ANI )