Man fined

Man fined Rs 30,000 for stealthily milking neighbour’s cow for 3 years

A man from Kesturu village has indeed loved his neighbour like he loves himself, and in the process helped himself to his neighbour’s assets.

Published: 02nd July 2018 04:23 AM  |   Last Updated: 02nd July 2018 04:23 AM  | 

Manjulamma and her mother-in-law Siddamma with their cow | Express

By Devaraj B Hirehalli

Express News Service

TUMAKURU: A man from Kesturu village has indeed loved his neighbour like he loves himself, and in the process helped himself to his neighbour’s assets. Over three years, Rajanna stealthily milked cows that belonged to Narasimharaju till he was caught in the act recently.

An owner of a cow himself, Rajanna, a native of the village near Tumakuru, went on to confess that he envied his neighbours, who owned four cows.

Manjulamma would milk her cows at 5.30 am every day. As he was aware of this routine, Rajanna would beat her to it and milk a cow of his neighbours as early as 3.30 am. He would draw about 5 litres and sell it saying it came from his cow.

A worried Manjulamma consulted a veterinarian asking him to diagnose the reason for the decreased quantity of milk yielded by her cows. The vet clarified that there was nothing wrong with her cows.
The woman then suspected her husband, who, she thought, was making an extra buck to feed his addiction, which was alcohol. When she confronted Narasimharaju with the accusation, he wanted to get to the bottom of things. In a bid to clear his name, he began keeping a close eye on their cows.  

After many a sleepless night, he one day caught his neighbour “robbing” milk from one of their cows “as early as 3.30 in the morning.” “When I heard some sounds coming from our cow shed, I went out there and held a torch in the man’s face who was milking our cow and thus making the noise that attracted me. It was Rajanna, but he escaped,” the man narrated his experience to the police. The police booked Rajanna under the ‘non-cognizable offence’.

Meanwhile, the issue had circulated in the village following which the heads of the village held a meeting to settle the matter. They instructed Rajanna to pay ` 30,000 as a penalty to Narasimharaju, which he has promised to settle soon.