Delhi CBI team seizes animal skin worth lakhs

Delhi CBI team seizes animal skin worth lakhs
VIVEK DESHPANDE

NAGPUR, MARCH 21: Close on the heels of the two tiger killings early last month, fragile wildlife security in the region was once again bared with the special Narcotics and Wildlife team of Delhi CBI seizing tiger and leopard skins, bones, teeth and claws worth lakhs of rupees in international market, at two places in and around the city on Wednesday.

The carefully planned operation was executed by the Delhi CBI team with the help of local officials. Significantly, it was the Delhi CBI office which came to know about the racket first.

Said to be one of the biggest wildlife hauls of recent times, and perhaps the only one to have been executed by a Delhi CBI team, the seizure points towards the possibility of a major racket, maybe a global one, in this part of the state, something which the Forest officials have been ruling out with confidence.

Four leopard skins, one tiger skin, the whole set of tiger bones, 10 claws and three teeth, all of which was collected from recent killings, can't be but without the presence of a racket, sources reveal. Although it remains to be found out whether the killings were done in the region or somewhere else, the fact that five of the six persons arrested in this case belong to the nearby Kamptee town, supports the view that the national parks and tiger reserves in the region have become badly porous.

One of the arrested persons is from Raipur in Chhattisgarh. CBI DIG (Narcotics and Wildlife) B K Sharma is arriving in the city on Thursday to investigate further.

The names of those arrested are Maqbool Ahmed and Rajesh Gujar (the gang leaders), Javed Akhtar (Raipur), Ajay Rana, Pramod Raut and Gopal Harichand.

Part of the seizure was made in front of Hotel Centre Point in the city where the culprits were waiting for a client with the baggage full of leopard skins. The client never came though. The other seizure was made on a highway near Kamptee, about 15 kilometres from the city. Here, a Maruti Esteem car with two occupants was carrying the tiger parts.

Vidarbha has four National Parks with a total tiger population of around 130 and about 15 wildlife sanctuaries which have a sizeable leopard population. With only one unarmed forest guard looking after about 500 hectares and about 40 pc staff shortage, it is no wonder that the wildlife here ever remains exposed to the dangers of poaching.