Tiger poacher arrested in Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 30:

The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Delhi nabbed seasoned tiger poacher Hanumant from Nabrangpur in Odisha on Friday, a Times of India report from Nagpur said.

Hanumant was wanted in a tiger skin seizure case in Bhandara.

Based on the inputs given by Bhandara officials investigating seizure of tiger skin on July 28 and subsequently five tiger nails, the WCCB regional office at Jabalpur informed the Delhi office and tracked the culprit, the report said.

Hanumant was nabbed by WCCB sleuths in Nabarangapur in Odisha, following which they called up wildlife and territorial officials in Gondia and Bhandara and asked them to take custody of Hanumant in 24 hours.

“We have sent a four-member team of senior officials to Odisha. The accused will be brought on production warrant,” the Bhandara deputy conservator of forests (DyCF) Vinay Thakre was quoted as saying.

Hanumant is believed to have been the tiger poacher, who had brought the skin to Bhandara through local middlemen and poachers to sell it.

Hanumant’s name figures in the statement of another accused Manoj Mahajan from Nagpur, who used to procure and finance tiger skins and body parts for sorcery,the ToI report said.