Fists fly over pet dog’s death

[Guest guest]

Hyderabad, April 12: Municipal workers hunting for stray dogs

reportedly killed a pet in Saroornagar, triggering fisticuffs. Meenu

Dastoor, a realtor, said that his pet dog Gowri ran out of his house

at 9 am on Thursday and was caught by the municipal squad which

injected her with poison. " It died instantly, " he said. " Another dog,

Tommy, also ran out of the house and fell into the hands of the

municipal workers but we reached the spot and freed him. " Dastoor and

his family members allegedly beat up the municipal workers and the

sanitary inspector for killing their pet.

 

However, the realtor alleged that the municipal workers beat him, his

sister and his brother when they went to the municipal commissioner's

office in L.B. Nagar to complain about the incident. " There were over

50 workers including women and they beat the three of us and locked us

in a room, " he said. " Finally the police let us out. " He further

alleged that his brother and sister suffered fractures and were being

treated at a private hospital. However, the sanitary inspector of

Saroornagar municipality, Mr K. Koteshwar Rao, denied killing the pet dog.

 

He first said that Dastoor beat up the municipal staff after they

asked him not to dump garbage on the road. Later, he said that the dog

bit a municipal staffer named Mahesh. " I reached the spot to help him

and Dastoor and his family members pounced upon me and beat me up, " he

alleged. " None of our workers killed the dog. " The sanitary inspector

said that the municipality was merely acting on complaints about stray

dog menace. Both the parties lodged complaints with the police. " We

are investigating the case, " said inspector K. Srinivas Rao of

Saroornagar police.

 

" We treat our dogs like family members, " said Dastoor. " Apart from

Gowri and Tommy we also have Lalu, Tabri, Vishnu and Sweety. They are

all of Indian breed. " He said he had approached the municipality for a

dog licence but did not get any response.