Sarpanch arrested for hunting newborn tiger cub

Nagpur: A graduate and a sarpanch working in a two wheeler showroom have been arrested on Wednesday for poaching a newborn tiger cub during the night time. They had allegedly picked up the newborn tiger from a forest area in Saoli range of Chandrapur district.

The accused have been identified as Chichbodi Sarpanch Lomesh Dabal and Kalidas Raipure, Masala (Dariapur), who work in Chandrapur district.

In the last almost three months, the forest officials of Nagpur city have arrested about 31 accused for hunting tigers.

Acting on a tip-off, a team led by ACF Narendra Chandewar from Padoli near Urja Nagar. On Nagpur and Chandrapur state highway Kalidas Raipure and Sarpanch Lomesh Dabal have both been arrested red handed. With body parts of a newborn tiger.

Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) named Bharat Singh Hada said that based on the intelligence received. One of our teams was engaged in chasing both the accused for almost last 10 days. As we came to know that they were trying to sell newborn tiger body parts near Butibori MIDC Vigilance. A team led by RFO Phanindra Gadewar arrested both Kalidas Raipure and Sarpanch Lomesh Dabal. And both have also accepted that they were trying to deal with tiger body parts in Chandrapur district itself.

Tiger was picked up from the forest

Forest officials have said that the sarpanch doubled up as a tantrik and used the body parts to earn easy money by selling the body parts of the tiger. His farm is an encroachment on forest land. And the newborn tiger was picked up from the forest in the month of May. When the tigress must have gone inside the forest to hunt.

During interrogation, the sarpanch has told the officials that he had hidden the newborn tiger in a temporary hut inside his farm. And then tried to keep the tiger alive. Forest officials are not ready to believe the Dable theory at all. And forest officials believe that the cub died due to hunger.

The dried carcass of the newborn tiger had a mustache and short nails and the teeth of the cub were intact.

ACF Chandewar has said that we are trying to find out whether the accused are related to any hunting cases in the past.

Gadchiroli Honorary Wildlife Warden Uday Patel has said that it is indeed quite shocking how Saoli Range Forest Officer (RFO) Vasant Kamdi. And field staff were completely unaware of the whereabouts of the cubs and tigress. Whenever cubs along with tigress are reported, there is a need to increase security. The incident took place in the month of May and the employees were unaware of the incident for four months.

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