Maharashtra: Palghar resident booked for setting 7 puppies on fire

Photo for representational purpose

A Palghar resident has been booked for allegedly setting ablaze seven newborn stray puppies in a ground last week.

While two puppies were rescued, five might have been burned alive, stated a report in The Times of India.

The accused has been identified as Harshal Sankhe.

In a police complaint lodged on Monday, another Palghar resident Prathamesh Rane stated that Sankhe stood outside his (Rane's) bungalow in the evening on February 10, threatening to kill the puppies that were on a vacant plot nearby.

Rane said that Sankhe, who lives in the same locality, had claimed that the mother dog, who had littered recently on the open plot, had been preying on chickens that Sankhe rears. Rane said that Sankhe took heaps of garbage and dry grass from the plot and lit a fire. Rane, who took pictures of the "massive" fire, told the police that it spread across on the plot.

After it subsided, Rane and his family rescued two puppies with burns.

Activist Jayesh Padhye expressed fear that five of the pups have been burnt alive. The police did a panchnama, but no one has been arrested.