Sources said the trucks carrying the buffaloes entered Saharanpur via Haryana border on Tuesday. During the stopover at Saharanpur, cops were seen feeding the buffaloes freshly prepared rotis in front of the Gaagalhedi police station. Some even rushed to bring in a sack of fodder rich in jaggery. Soon a bonfire was lit up to keep the mosquitoes at bay.
At 4am on Wednesday, the police station provided a patrol van to pilot the trucks out of Saharanpur till they entered the borders of Muzaffarnagar district. Though police were tight-lipped on the special treatment accorded to the buffaloes, Saharanpur SSP Rajesh Pandey confirmed that they were meant for Khan.
The police confession came only after Sarfaraz Khan - an aide of Azam, who enjoys the status of a minister of state as the chairman of a board associated with the labour department - admitted he had bought the buffaloes from Punjab to be sent to Rampur.
"You are talking about buffaloes, I can give away everything I have if Azam Khan wants me to," Sarfaraz said on phone from Saharanpur. Sarfaraz had sent his son Shahnawaz to fetch the buffaloes from Punjab. UP police chief A L Bannerji on Thursday said he wasn't aware of the incident. "The matter will be investigated and suitable action taken if required," he said.
However , a senior police official said that it was not the Saharanpur police that gave a royal treatment to the bovines. "Two cops from Punjab Police were accompaying the group," he said.
Saharanpur police are under the scanner for their failure to contain a communal flare-up. In February this year, five policemen in Rampur were suspended when Azam's seven buffaloes were stolen.
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