If found guilty, cut my leg: BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi reacts to Shaktiman's death

Police horse Shaktiman , which suffered multiple fractures on its hind leg during a BJP protest in Dehradun last month triggering widespread outrage, died on Thursday. “Shaktiman was injured on 14 March after which we had to operate on him. He was later fitted with an artificial leg. But he was unable to fully recover from an infection,” SSP Dehradun Sadanand Date said. [caption id=“attachment_2740276” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Police horse Shaktiman whose leg had to be amputated after he was beaten up at a BJP rally, passed away on Wednesday. PTI[/caption] Animal rights activists reacted sharply to the horse’s death and asked the government to take action against the accused BJP leader, Ganesh Joshi. Expressing condolences over the demise, Joshi said that he was not at fault. “I already said that I am not at fault, if found guilty then cut my leg,” he was quoted as saying by ANI. The 13-year-old horse was given a prosthetic leg and was confined to the police lines. It was a well trained horse and part of Uttarakhand Mounted Police for years. “The horse passed away at 5.30 pm. He was suffering from medical complications. The exact cause will be known only after post-mortem,” IG Garhwal Sanjay Gunjyal said. Expressing shock over the demise of the horse, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat said, “It was a brave soldier of Uttarakhand and died while performing its duty.” The horse had lost its leg after it was brutally beaten during clashes between BJP protesters and the police on 14 March. BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi, accused of assaulting Shaktiman, was arrested after nationwide outrage over the incident. With inputs from agencies.