Patna, Nov. 22: People for Animals has filed an FIR against nine people from Nepal for persuading residents of Raxaul village to take their cattle to the mass sacrifice festival in Gadhimai.

The festival began on November 15 and things are hotting up on the porous India-Nepal border in the run-up to the two-day mass cattle sacrifice on November 28 and 29.

People for Animals trustee Gauri Maulekhi filed the FIR at Raxaul police station in East Champaran district against nine named people from Bairiyapur village of Bara district in Nepal.

Gauri claimed most people named in the FIR are associated with the Gadhimai temple committee, which organises the fest every five years. “Despite protests, the committee is determined to organise the sacrifice. We came across these people provoking residents to send their cattle to Gadhimai, while moving across Raxaul on Friday. We enquired about their identity, but they threatened us. I have lodged an FIR seeking action against them under Sections 108, 109, 110,117, 120A, 120B, 141, 142 and 150 of IPC and related sections of Bihar Cattle Presentation Act,” Gauri said.

Animal groups also raised fears of an anthrax outbreak. Urvashi Prasad, a representative from India in the Global Shapers Community at the World Economic Forum, said: “No health checks are being carried out on the cattle taken for sacrifice and Nepal is prone to anthrax. We fear lakhs of people headed there could catch anthrax through air, water and soil and spread the same in India once back.”

Gauri said: “We held numerous meetings with Gadhimai temple authorities to stop the massacre but they wouldn’t budge. The FIR against the committee will act as a deterrent by inducing fear for misdirecting residents here.”

She further said: “I have mentioned in the FIR that there is a person named Arvind Gupta, who has taken the contract for supplying carcass and bones worth several lakhs in the Nepalese market. These people would suffer heavy losses if animals do not go from India.