HYDERABAD: Incidents of mass killing of stray dogs in Telangana continued to surface on Monday with another 200 dogs allegedly poisoned to death at Pathipaka village in Hanumakonda district. While the incident, according to animal rights activists, took place a month ago — amid the sarpanch elections — it came to light on Jan 25 after locals tipped them off about the dogs being buried at a site close to the village.This is the second such incident being reported from a village under the Shayampet police station limits this month. On Jan 9, cops here had filed an FIR after a complaint was lodged about 300 dogs being similarly killed in Arepally village, in the same area.

“Since both the cases fall under our jurisdiction, as is suspected to have been executed by the same people, we have decided to make changes to the earlier FIR and add details of the latest case,” said Jakkula Parameshwar, SI, Shayampet police station adding that the dog carcasses will be retrieved and sent for post mortem examination on Tuesday.In the Arepally case, cops had booked the village sarpanch, secretary and others, under Sections 325 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and Section 11(1)(a) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960 (dealing with killing and poisoning of animals by multiple persons).“We were informed about these killings on Sunday. We suspect that these dogs too were killed by administering lethal injections. We went to the site where they were buried and registered a complaint with the police after the visit,” said Goutham Adulapuram of Stray Animal Foundation India. He added that they also interacted with the locals to understand the motive behind these killings. “It looks like this too was ordered by gram panchayat officials to fulfil poll promises,” he added.So far, more than 1,000 dogs have been allegedly killed across Telangana this month. The accused include several sarpanchs and ward members who, complainants claim, promised to address the dog and monkey menace while campaigning for the recently concluded gram panchayat elections. These mass killings have been reported from Kamareddy, Jagtial, Hanumakonda and Ranga Reddy districts.