Two men have been booked and arrested in Madhya Pradesh’s Agar Malwa district under the National Security Act on Thursday for allegedly transporting cows illegally, PTI quoted the police as saying. This comes days after the Kamal Nath-led Congress government invoked the stringent Act against three persons accused of cow slaughter in Khandwa district.

“The two accused – Mehboob Khan, a resident of Lambikheda in Ujjain district, and Rodumal Malviya of Agar Malwa, were arrested on Thursday under the NSA for transporting cows illegally and disrupting public peace,” Kotwali police station officer Ajit Tiwari said on Friday. Following their arrest, a local court sent the accused to a jail in Ujjain city, he added.

The police officer said people found the two accused transporting cows in Agar Malwa on January 29. A crowd protested against them, following which the town market was shut. “They were found to be involved in such activities in the past as well, which had led to disruption of peace in the area,” Tiwari said.

District Collector Ajay Gupta invoked the National Security Act against the accused after Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Singh sent him a report on the matter. “In the past, four cases of illegal transportation of cows were registered against Mehboob and three cases against Rodumal, because of which the administration imposed the NSA against them,” Tiwari added.