Special team to probe meat racket

Budge Budge: The state government has set up a special investigation team that will probe the racket allegedly involved in supplying rotten meat of carcasses fetched from dumping grounds.

The team will be headed by an officer of the rank of deputy superintendent of police.

Sources said the team would try to identify the "linkmen" believed to be active in Nadia, North and South 24-Parganas and Howrah.

The "linkmen" would gather information about carcass being dumped and pass it on to members of the gang, who would collect them from the dumping grounds.

According to the police, the carcasses would be collected from the dumping grounds in Budge Budge (South 24-Parganas), Kalyani (Nadia), Sodepur (North 24-Parganas) and Shibpur (Howrah).

"Without identifying and questioning the linkmen, we will not be able to understand how far the tentacles of the racket are spread. So far we have not been able to get hold of any of the linkmen," an officer said.

The police said the meat of the carcasses fetched from dumping grounds would first arrive at a processing centre-cum-cold store on Gas Street in Narkeldanga - Hindustan Ice and Cold Storage Company. There the meat would be processed and packaged before being sent to small eateries and road-side stalls.

"We want to question the owner of the Narkeldanga facility," an officer investigating the case said.