Bhopal: Eight racehorses have allegedly died due to starvation, infection, during suspected illegal transportation of more that 50 such horses from Hyderabad to Jabalpur, National Horse Breeding Society of India (NHBSI) officials said on Saturday.

Animal welfare activist Simran Issar (43) on Saturday filed a petition before Madhya Pradesh high court on Saturday demanding action against owner of HithaNet India Pvt. Ltd Suresh Paladugu and caretaker Sachin Tiwari under the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Act, 1960, and violation of Transportation of Animal Rules, and protection for the remaining 49 horses.

Refuted allegations of Issar, Tiwari said that the “horses were brought from Hyderabad to Jabalpur to open a state horse farm and all the allegations made by Israr are baseless.”

District collector Deepak Saxena ordered a probe after officials of NHBSI and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi filed complaint. “A probe has been ordered. The Superintendent of Police has been asked to take action under relevant sections of the Animal Cruelty Act after the investigation,” Saxena said.

According to petition, a private company, HithaNet India, brought 57 horses from Hyderabad to develop a farm in Jabalpur’s Rajpura village, between April 29 and May 5, without following due procedure that require permission from veterinary department and also need to show passports, an identity card of the horses. Of these, eight died between May 7 and 13.

Tiwari, meanwhile, said that eight of the horses died during transportation and “of the 49 horses alive in Jabalpur, 16 are thorough bred horses and 33 are Marvari.”

“In the last few years Indian horse racing found popularity and amazing brand hence, new sponsored has come forward to sponsor Horse Power Sports League (HPSL) run by Hyderabad based businessman Suresh Paladugu, the man behind sponsoring all the big races in across India. Paladugu opened a company called HithaNet India Pvt. Ltd., he started to horse racing with online batting venture exclusively for Philippines which he ran at Hyderabad Race Club, which is called UnThose Matchup Racing. At the peak of this horse racing venture, they have 154 horses for racing,” Issar said.

Issar alleged that horse races were broadcast in the Philippines through an app called Trooang Kareista, and the organisers paid a hefty rent to the Hyderabad Race Club. “A man named Gangadhar Math was caretaker/manager of this operations. Paladugu and Math stopped paying the salaries to the staff in October, 2024 and they were issues of strike and labour law related other issues,” Issar added.

In April, animal activist and polo player Lavanya Shikhawat got hold of picture and videos and filed complaint in April against Hyderabad race club and she wrote a letter to PETA immediately. “The video and the photographs of Hyderabad Race Club was horrified with horses bleeding with their noses, dying to severe malnutrition and living in most and unhygienic condition. Since February, 2025 Paladugu stopped paying salaries to the staff and hence, these 154 horses were left without food, water and completely neglected completely almost four months,” said Issar.

Issar added that of these 154, only 64 horses were left out and 8 to 10 horses of them were bought by Hyderabad Race Club.

“The unaccounted 90 horses are presumed to be died or missing,” PETA officials said on Saturday.

The animal rights group alleged that the remaining horses were sent to Jabalpur from Hyderabad in the command and control of caretaker Tiwari, who is a close associate of Paladugu.

“A rapid response team was formed under the National Action Plan on the instructions of district collector Deepak Saxena to monitor and diagnose the possibility of glanders disease in horses and zoonotic diseases. With biosafety vigilance, blood serum samples of all the horses were sent to the National Equine Research Centre in Hisar, Haryana for testing. The report of 44 horses has come negative from the research centre. The report of the remaining horses has not been received yet. So far, eight horses have died during treatment and the treatment of other horses is continued under the supervision of the experts,” deputy director animal husbandry and dairy department Prafull Moon said on Friday.