Kalyan: A doctor has been booked on charges of causing "cruelty" to animals, the police said on Saturday.
Virendra Pal Singh, who runs a hospital in Kalyan town, has been booked on the basis of a complaint filed by an animals rights group, they said.
According to the complaint filed by a member of the Benevolent Association for Welfare and People for Animal, the 48-year-old physician had nine dogs in his custody without taking permission from civic authorities.
The medical practitioner did not take proper care of the canines, who were kept in unhygienic conditions in the hospital premises, the complainant said.
The NGO rescued the dogs last month and kept them in a shelter home for animals. Veterinary doctors later examined the dogs and found they were subjected to "cruelty", according to the complaint filed on Thursday at the Kadhakpada police station.
Singh was booked on Friday under IPC section 429 (mischief by killing or maiming cattle) and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, the police added.
