DEHRA DUN, JUNE 2 Uttar Pradesh police have registered cases against Tehelka chief executive Tarun Tejpal, staff reporter Aniruddh Bahal and others for allegedly violating the Wildlife Protection Act — a charge Tehelka has denied.
The Tehelka reporters and a forest official posted in Dehra Dun were allegedly conspiring to kill wild animals and video-record the poaching, according to police officials in Saharanpur.
The police reportedly nabbed two poachers — Inam and Meharban — from near the Mohanad range of Rajaji National Park on May 24 and seized skins of wild animals, a gun and a digital video camera from them.
The poachers reportedly confessed the camera had been given to them by one Pankaj to shoot poaching of animals. Pankaj’s phone number was allegedly that of a Tehelka reporter.
The portal was working on a story on poaching in protected areas, say the police, and its team had met these poachers allegedly through forest official Paramjit Singh.
Police have filed cases against Tejpal, Behal, Neena Sharma, Kumar Badal, all of Tehelka, and forest official Paramjit Singh.
Refuting all charges, Bahal said: ‘‘This incident exists only in the imagination of Saharanpur SSP. We are being purposely maligned for the past one year for who we are. Our staff hasn’t been paid for the past three-four months and some of us haven’t taken our salaries for 8-9 months and they think we can do this? We (Tarun, Samuel Matthew — a reporter — and I) are to appear before Venkatswamy Commission and all these groups have been throwing things at us hoping something will stick.’’
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