Buldhana (Maharashtra), Sep 9 (IANS): After around 90 stray dogs were found dead with their muzzles and legs tied in the dense forests off Maharashtra's Buldhana town, civic officials are under scrutiny, police said here on Monday.

"This is a very serious matter. Among various angles, we are investigating whether this brutality was perpetrated by the dog-catching squads of various municipal bodies in Buldhana, Jalna, Aurangabad or even elsewhere," Buldhana Superintendent of Police Dilip Patil-Bhujbal told IANS.

The matter first came to light on September 5, when villagers complained of some foul odour in the area.

Police teams while checking stumbled upon the rotting carcasses of dogs at half a dozen spots in the jungles adjoining the Girda-Savaldabara Road on September 5.

"We found nearly 100 dogs with their muzzles and legs tied up with strings, and thrown on the road here. Around 10 were found to be alive and are being taken care of by the Forest Department," the Buldhana Rural Police Investigating Officer Mansab Satdive, told IANS.

The carcasses have been sent for autopsy as the police on Sunday registered a case on the complaint of a Forest Department officer against unknown persons under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, Maharashtra Police Act.

Dilip Patil-Bhujbal said it remains to be seen whether the dogs were poisoned orally or by injections, or succumbed to hunger and thirst.