Adilabad: Forest officials are allegedly trying to save their skin vis-a-vis the recent seizure of tiger skin, by saying that the tiger had died an accidental death and the accused had no intention of killing it. Forest officials say the tiger came into contact with live electric wires erected to protect crops from forest animals.
They even said that the accused had no poaching background.
Forest officials say Prakash and A. Munya of Pulgampandri village in Pembi forest range are the main accused in the incident that took place in Nirmal district.
The agriculture field where the tiger died belonged to Munya. The accused were produced in court on Monday.
Negligence in protecting the migrant tiger at Kawal Tiger Reserve was evident as forest officials failed to provide it safe passage to its actual habitat in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve.
Also, officials who go overboard to showcase tiger movement in the reserve are now saying that there are no resident tigers at the Kawal reserve and those that are spotted there are just visitors who come and go back to their habitat. That spares them the responsibility of protecting the tigers.
But the spot where the tiger’s carcass was burnt was far away from the agriculture field of the main accused.
In December 2016, officials in Mancherial had exhumed the carcass of a tiger that was buried after it got electrocuted at Pinnaram village in Kotapalli mandal.
But in the Pinnaram incident the tiger’s skin and nails were found intact, lending credence to the accidental death theory. But in the recent Pembi incident, the accused had skinned the tiger before its carcass was burnt, making one doubt the accidental death theory.
