Congress and BJP attack each other over Shaktiman’s death.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
Shaktiman, the horse of Uttarakhand Police that had a hind leg amputated following an alleged attack by a BJP leader during a protest, succumbed to injuries on Wednesday.
“The horse passed away at 5.30 PM. He was suffering from medical-related complications. The exact cause will be known only after post-mortem,” IG Garhwal Sanjay Gunjyal told media.
BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi allegedly attacked the horse on March 14 during a protest staged by the BJP. Joshi and BJP had to face severe flak following the incident. Ganesh Joshi was arrested after the incident and sent on bail later.
“Shaktiman was injured on March 14 after which we had to operate on him. He was later fitted with an artificial leg. But he was unable to fully recover from an infection,” SSP Dehradun, Sadanand Date, told Press Trust of India.
The 13-year-old horse had been serving the police for 10 years and was a well-trained horse of the state police force.
The doctors who were taking care of Shaktiman said that they tried their best to save the life of the animal.
The doctors had brought a prosthetic leg from the US for Shaktiman. The team also included a specialist doctor from the US.
Expressing shock over the incident, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said, “It was a brave soldier of Uttarakhand and died while performing its duty.”
The incident has triggered a political blame game between the BJP and the Congress with the former accusing the latter of not giving proper treatment to the injured horse.
BJP leader Ajay Bhatt said, “An innocent animal died because of the state government’s mistake and no proper treatment was given to it.”