March 1 – A rooster fitted with a knife for an unlawful cockfight in southern India has killed its proprietor, sparking a manhunt for the organisers of the occasion.

The chook had a knife connected to its leg when it inflicted critical wounds to the person’s groin because it tried to flee, police stated on Sunday.

The sufferer, Thangulla Satish, 45, died from lack of blood earlier than he might attain a hospital within the Karimnagar district of Telangana state final week, stated police officer B Jeevan.

“Satish was hit by the rooster’s knife in his groin and started bleeding heavily,” the officer stated.

The rooster was briefly held on the native police station earlier than it was despatched to a poultry farm. “We may need to produce it before the court,” stated Jeevan.

Images of the rooster tied with a rope and pecking grain on the police station had been broadly seen on social media.

Satish was one among 16 folks organising the cockfight within the village of Lothunur, Jeevan stated.

“We are searching for the other 15 people involved in organising the illegal fight,” Jeevan stated.

They might face fees of manslaughter, unlawful betting and internet hosting a cockfight.

Cockfights are banned however nonetheless widespread in rural areas of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha states – notably across the Hindu competition of Sankranti.

Specially bred roosters have 7.5-centimetre (three-inch) knives or blades tied to their legs and punters guess on who will win the ugly struggle. Battles proceed till one contestant is both useless or flees, declaring the opposite rooster the winner.

Thousands of roosters die every year within the competitions which, regardless of the efforts of animal rights teams, entice massive crowds.

Last yr, a person was killed when a blade connected to his chook’s leg hit him within the neck throughout a cockfight in Andhra Pradesh. In 2010, a rooster killed its proprietor by slashing his jugular vein in West Bengal state. (Reuters)