Chhattisgarh: 6 held for poaching in Achanakmar Tiger Reserve
Six persons were arrested fromseparate places in Chhattisgarhs Bilaspur district forallegedly killing spotted deer in Achanakmar Tiger Reserve,forest officials said on Monday.
The carcass of a chital, also known as spotted deer,and 35 kg meat of the animal were also recovered from theirpossession, they said.
Forest officials recently got a tip-off that somepoachers had laid an electric wire trap near Shivtaraivillage, located in the buffer zone of tiger reserve, to killthe spotted deer for its meat ahead of the Holi festival.
Acting on the information, the forest departmentintensified patrolling in the area on Saturday night, thetiger reserves deputy director, Satyadev Sharma, said.
While cordoning off the area, the forest personnel onSunday intercepted two motorcycle-borne men — Vivek Nelson(29) and Mexon George (35)– and arrested them after 10 kg ofchital meat was recovered from their possession, he said.
Based on their statements, raids were conducted at thehouses of Shivtarais former sarpanch Santosh Porte and twoother village residents Suresh Uraon and Budhram (30), theofficial said.
During the raids, 25 kg of chital meat and a sharp-edged weapon were seized from the house of Porte while bows,arrows, steel cable and clutch wire were recovered from theBudhrams home, he said.
“Later, another accused Bhuvneshwar Porte (45) wasalso arrested. He had laid an electric wire trap for about 7km in the forest in which a chital got trapped and died,”Sharma said, adding the carcass was recovered from the spot.
The investigation further revealed that one HasratKhan of Bilaspur had allegedly killed a chital with a 0.22bore gun with the support of Santosh Porte, Nelson and George,he said.
Apart from Nelson, George, Budhram and BhuvneshwarPorte, two more persons, identified as Asaram (27) andRaghunath (45), were held in this connection on Sunday.
Three other accused- Hasrat Khan, Santosh Porte andSuresh Uraon – are still at large, the official said.
The accused have been booked under relevant provisionsof the Wildlife Protection Act 1972, he said.
The samples of meat recovered from the accused will besent to the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun toascertain whether it is of one deer or more, he added.
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