Around 20 cows, allegedly being transported to Cuttack for slaughter, were rescued from two pick-up vans near Gopalpur on Sunday even as six others were found to have died on the way.
Acting on a tip-off, Bajrang Dal activists intercepted the two vans heading towards Cuttack at Gopalpur on National Highway-5.
While the drivers fled, the activists found 26 cattle crammed in barbaric conditions inside the vehicles.
Such was the condition inside that six cows had succumbed on the way.
Bajrang Dal president Anand Kumar Ram said they received information on the cattle being transported from Begunia to Cuttack.
“On stopping the vehicles near Kathjodi bridge, we found the animals inside in extremely cruel manner. The vehicles, which could hardly accommodate two, had a dozen. We found six cows dead, most possibly due to asphyxiation, while the rest were in a pitiable state,” Ram said.
The rescued animals were shifted to the Gosala at Choudwar even as police seized the vehicles.
The Bajrang Dal alleged that the laws on transport of cattle were being blatantly violated in the State.
This is the second instance of rescue of illegally transported cattle from Cuttack. On Sunday last, 27 buffalos were rescued from a wagon of an Express train at the Cuttack railway station.
They too were being transported without any document.
The cattle were also crammed into a single coach in gross violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, Cow Slaughter Act and the Transport of Animals Rules, 1978.