On Sunday a group of spectator came to visit Taj Mahal leaving their labrador retriever locked up in a car for around two hours and later when the pet dog’s haryana-based owner returned it was already dead due to suffocation.

On the next day a video of the incident went viral on social media grabbing the condemnation from netizens. UP Police responded to the matter and asked the Agra Police to look into the situation. The Agra Police tweeted the latter in Hindi, “The officers concerned have been directed to take necessary action”. A FIR was filed against the car owner under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act

Tajganj SHO Devendra Shanker Pandey said, “An FIR has been registered against the car owner, Ajay Kumar, a resident of Haryana’s Hisar district, on Monday under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act based on a complaint by a parking contractor. Postmortem is being conducted to ascertain the exact cause of death

An impersonated clip of the incident showed a locked Hyundai i20 with the dog dead in the leg space of the rear seat. According to the police the incident occurred at the monument’s western gate parking lot. By happenstance, pets were not allowed inside the monument’s premises

Gajju Pradhan, the parking contractor filed a complaint in the matter saying, “Four persons, including two women, were in the vehicle with a dog. They parked their car around 12pm, and left the dog locked inside with one side rear window slightly open. The parking attendant and a guide asked them to leave the dog outside, but they ignored it. When they returned two hours later, the animal had already died”

Criticizing the heedless act of the pet’s owner, animal rights activist Vineeta Arora said, “It is a cold-blooded murder. The accused need to be slapped with the IPC section 429 (killing or maiming animals). As per the norms, pet chaining is cruel and a subject of abuse. Here the dog was chained inside a locked car in the most adverse weather conditions.”