Chhattisgarh Forest Dept Seeks CBI Probe Into Poaching Of 3 Tigers Of Indravati National Park
Interstate wildlife trafficking suspected after arrest of 2 Maharashtra cops
Raipur: Chhattisgarh government’s forest department has sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the recent killing of 3 tigers of Indravati National Park in south Bastar in the state.
The forest department has written a letter to the state home department to recommend a CBI probe into the tiger poaching cases, suspecting it a handiwork of interstate wildlife traffickers.
The issue became sensitive following the arrest of two security personnel of Maharashtra police in connection with the incidents.
Chhattisgarh’s forest department was alarmed when three tiger hides and other organs of the big cats were recovered from a gang of wildlife traffickers in the state last month.
Nine people were arrested along Chhattisgarh’s border with Maharashtra in this connection.
According to official sources, on June 29, two tiger skins, 13 whiskers, and a motorcycle registered in Maharashtra were recovered from two people, Biyeri Gedam, and Baburao Madavi.
Gedam identified himself during interrogation by the investigators as a constable in the special branch of Maharashtra police, while Madavi identified himself as a police informer in Gadchiroli.
They were produced in the court on June 30 which remanded them to judicial custody.
Searches carried out in Bijapur district under south Bastar following inputs by the two arrested cops had yielded hunting traps, knives, 12 claws, four canine teeth, and other articles allegedly used for poaching, a senior forest officer here said on Thursday.
Almost a week later, a third tiger skin was recovered in the Indravati National Park area in which seven more accused were arrested.
Sources said that the state forest department officials are searching for more tiger skins following inputs by the arrested accused in the tiger poaching incidents.
The forest department apprehended that the poachers might have made the Indravati National Park tigerless by killing all the six big cat inhabitants.
The Indravati Tiger Reserve is believed to have housed half-a-dozen tigers.
Tiger census could not be conducted in the Indravati Tiger Reserve in the last three census due to Naxal threats.
