Mumbai Cat Killings: 20 Strays Mutilated In Chembur, Police Launch Probe As PETA India Offers Reward

A suspected cat killer appears to be on the loose in East Mumbai's Govandi area, where nearly 20 stray cats living near a makeshift shelter in Chembur have allegedly been killed in a brutal manner over the past month. The killings have prompted People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India to step in, helping ensure that a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against unknown persons at the RCF Police Station.

The complaint was filed by Rubina Abdul Malik Pathan, 53, a domestic worker who has fed and cared for the strays for five to six years, including getting them neutered with help from local residents. She told she found four cats "killed very brutally" on 3 September near a makeshift shelter she had built for them under a bridge in the Kamawadi area. Two days later, she discovered two more dead cats with injuries suggesting they had been struck on the head and strangulated, with stab wounds and glass shards found scattered around the spot. Police separately found a dead cat and its kitten near the Shani Temple in Panjrapol.

Pathan said she had lost around 15 to 20 cats over the past month, which led her to approach both PETA India and the police. "I was convinced that some unknown person had deliberately and cruelly killed the stray cats in the area. After that, I complained to PETA. I deposited the two dead cats I found at the animal hospital in Parel," she said.

The FIR has been registered under Section 325 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 (Sections 428 and 429 of IPC), which deals with mischief by killing, poisoning, crippling, or hurting an animal so that it becomes useless or disabled, along with Sections 11(1)(a) and 11(1)(l) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, covering beating, kicking, or torturing an animal, and its physical mutilation. Section 325 of the BNS is a cognisable offence and prescribes imprisonment of up to five years, a fine, or both.

DCP (East Zone) Sameer Shaikh confirmed that police are investigating the case. "Investigation is underway," he said, adding that officers are scanning CCTV footage across the neighbourhood and questioning residents in an effort to trace the person or persons responsible.

To assist the probe, PETA India has announced a reward of up to Rs 50,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the culprit. PETA India Cruelty Response Officer Ishani Rathee flagged the wider risk such incidents pose. "Those who abuse animals often move on to harming other animals and humans. For everyone's safety, it's imperative that members of the public report cruelty to animals such as this one to the police," she said.

PETA India has long maintained that violence against animals frequently escalates and, in numerous documented cases, has preceded or accompanied violence against people, which is why the organisation continues to push for such complaints to be registered and investigated without delay.