Hyderabad: The forest department has suspended Pembi forest range officer Hafeezzuddin in Nirmal district, where a tiger was killed last year. Its skin was seized last week
Conservator of forests Saravanan has initiated criminal action against the official for his alleged involvement in suppressing cases of hunting in his range and encouraging illegal activities.
It was stated that Hafeezzuddin, a deputy range cadre officer, had detected a case of nilgai hunting and seized 10 kg of nilgai meat on December 31 from the Guglavath Prakash, main accused in seizure of tiger skin at Ichoda in Adilabad district. He did not file a report or book a case.
Officials felt that if Hafeezzuddin had been vigilant and dutiful, Prakash would have been arrested on December 31. Serious action is being initiated against the FRO and other staff, sources said. The FRO was also accused of encouraging illegal sand mining in his range.
It is learnt that the accused who were arrested last week had tried to sell the tiger skin for Rs 20 lakh to a decoy members of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and TRAFFIC India, an NGO. Forest officials are searching for Munya, first accused in the case, who is absconding.
