A heart-wrenching incident has shaken the residents of Shivneri Nagar in Pune's Kondhwa, where two stray dogs, known as Blacky and Brown, were reportedly found brutally injured and later declared dead.
Diana Angelo Fernandez, a 36-year-old senior market head at Sahyadri Hospital and a long-time resident of Shivneri Nagar, has filed a formal complaint with the Kondhwa Police Station. According to her statement, she has been feeding and caring for local strays for the past eight years on her own initiative.
Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Diana explained the chronology of the event. She said, "On the morning of May 21, between 7:00 and 7:30am, I went out to feed them and noticed that Blacky and Brown, both around 8 to 10 years old, were missing from their regular spot. I began searching the area and eventually found one of the dogs severely injured and unconscious near a nearby construction site. Seeing him in that state, I convinced myself it wasn't my dog, so I started inquiring - what exactly happened? Did anybody see him heading somewhere or something like that? Even the people had no idea, and I thought that it might have come under a vehicle or something like that, so I called up the PMC to take the body and bury it respectfully. The PMC assured me that they would be there in 10-15 minutes."
"Meanwhile, there was a camera just opposite the construction building. While checking, the PMC vehicle came to take the body, and accidentally, one of the staff told me, ‘Ma'am, we picked up one more body around 6:30am, which was black in colour.’ Then I thought, these dogs cannot have died together. So immediately, I called up the PAL group, and they helped me with filing the case and completing the other legal procedures. Both dogs were sent to the Government Veterinary Hospital in Pune for post-mortem examinations. The veterinary officer confirmed that the animals had died due to blunt force trauma, likely from a severe beating."
According to the FIR, the complainant has accused a person named Kirti of orchestrating the brutal attack. She claims that the act was intentional, done with the motive to kill the animals.
Roshan Pathak, Animal Welfare Officer, Government of Maharashtra, said, "We received the complaint from Diana. We provided the required assistance to register the case and guided her to get the post-mortem done, after which the case was registered with the Kondhwa Police Station. This is not just about two dogs. It’s about the message we send as a society about compassion and cruelty."
The Kondhwa Police have registered the incident under the NCRB I.I.F.-1 format and are currently investigating the matter.
The case is being looked after by Vijay Patankar, Senior PI, Kondhwa Police Station, and the investigation is underway.
