Poacher arrested with tiger skins, bones worth Rs 70 lakh

Tribune News Service

Haridwar, March 14

The Special Task Force (STP) of Uttarakhand Police arrested a man with five skins and 125 kg bones of tiger here today.

The police in a secret operation arrested Chander having links with an international wildlife smugglers’ gang from Haridwar. However, four of Chander’s accomplices fled taking advantage of the darkness and dense forests, it said. The police have started search operation to nab them.

The arrested person has been identified as Ram Chander alias Chander, a resident of Dhoviyana Colony, Bhatinda, Punjab, from Shyanpur in Haridwar. The police said the skin and bones were worth Rs 70 lakh in the international market.

The tiger skins’ length was 10-12 ft each. These were 6-7 ft wide. Wildlife experts said the tigers were killed at least 2-5 months back.

STF officials said they had been getting information that some members of the Bavariya gang were involved in killing of wild animals in forest of Uttarakhand and their bones and skins were being smuggled to Nepal and Tibet.

A special team, under Sub-Inspector Santosh Kumar Shah, was formed to nab the culprits. Acting on a tip-off, the police laid a trap to arrest Ramesh Chander from Shyampur late last night.

Chander, during interrogation, accepted that they used to hunt tigers in Rajaji Tiger Reserve, Jim Corbett National Park and dense forest areas of Haridwar, Najibabad in Uttar Pradesh and Kotdwar, Pauri Garhwal.

“Ramesh, along with four other gang members, was sneaking out of Haridwar towards Najibabad in Uttar Pradesh when he was arrested. Potential buyers were ready to purchase the skins to smuggle these to Nepal, ” said Santosh Kumar.

The other four accused, who escaped, are Hazari of Kalka (Haryana), Ram Bhagat, Mukhtyar and Mandiya, all residents of Dhobiyana, Bhatinda, Punjab.

A case has been registered under Sections 9/39/44/49 B/51 and the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

Sanjay Gunjiyal, Inspector General of Police, Garhwal Range, congratulated the STF team comprising Ved Prakash Bhatt, Mahendra Singh, Brijendra Singh, Sandeep Verma, Sanjay Kumar, Lokendra Singh, Kailash Nayal, Santosh Kumar and Deepak Bhandari for the success.