John Krishnan was produced before the duty magistrate at Tis Hazari courts today for violation of the Wildlife Protection Act and remanded to judicial custody till September 3. The deer was sent to the zoo. He could not satisfactorily explain how the deer came into his possession and what he proposed to do with it. An US embassy identity card was recovered from him.

A spokesperson for the US embassy however said that they had ``nothing to do with the episode. We can't confirm whether he was working with us. Even if he was working with us, Krishnan was doing this in his individual capacity.''

John Krishnan was seen travelling in an autorickshaw, along with the chained Hog Deer concealed under a cloth, in the Vasant Vihar area. According to Nandini Ramachandran, a Delhi High Court lawyer, ``My husband and I were returning after watching a movie when we saw this peculiar head sticking out of the autorickshaw. We gave chase and forced the driver to stop. When we saw the animal was a deer, we took the man to the Vasant Vihar police station.''

Krishnan initially told the police that he was taking the deer for some official at the embassy. However, inconsistencies crept into his version. When this reporter visited the police station, the 4-year-old deer, called Soni, still chained, was seated outside the prison. Krishnan too was seated nearby, detained by the police.

The police were awaiting the arrival of the officials from the office of the Chief Wildlife Warden. They themselves were at sea about handling such a case, rarely reported to the police. Krishnan told Express Newsline that he had raised the deer for the past four years and that he had bought it in Karnal for Rs 3,000.

``I raise many other animals in my house -- six dogs, four squirrels, two lovebirds, some monkeys and many pigeons,'' he said. Giving a different story this time, he said, he was presently working with the Netherlands Embassy. He said that he was employed with an embassy official -- an engineer -- at Karnal who was helping the Haryana Government with some water project.

About the I-card recovered from him, he said that he had earlier worked with the US embassy and was soon going to work with them again as his contract had been renewed. He claimed to have earlier worked with Japanese and the German embassy as well.

When asked about the deer, he said that had brought it from Karnal to show it to the children of his relatives. ``I was taking the deer from my house in Dakshinpuri to R.K. Puram where my brother, working in the CBI, lives,''he said.

However, he could not give any convincing answer as to why he was transporting it under the cover of darkness. When the inspector from the office of the Wildlife Warden confirmed that the animal was indeed an endangered species, Krishnan was produced before the court.

The police, meanwhile, did not know how to handle the case. ``When we reached the police station, they did not know under which section to book the man and they did not have the Wildlife Protection Act. They asked us to get it. It was only after we got a copy that they detained the man,'' Ramachandran said.