In a joint operation, the Wildlife Protection Society of India and Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested a poacher with two leopard skins from Kali Mandir in Vasant Vihar police station limits. With this seizure, the total haul of leopard hides by Uttarakhand, UP and Delhi police has reached 15.

Poaching accused Ranjit Gosai alias Rajendra Singh, resident of Panikujasu village in Karnaprayag police station area of Chamoli district, has reportedly confessed to his crime. Gosai was being tracked by WPSI men, who contacted him as a decoy customer and kept in touch with him for nearly two months.

"He was constantly travelling to other parts of the State in order to avoid meeting us but remained in touch to finalise the deal," WPSI Uttarakhand head Rajendra Aggrawal said.

Gosai had earlier tried to sell the skins to another man, Hanif, from Chamoli but the latter did not agree to the price at which he sought to sell them. Hanif is a part of the inter-State wildlife mafia. Having failed to finalise the deal with Hanif, Gosai responded to the WPSI decoy, asking Rs 2 lakh from him at first but finally settling for Rs 50,000 for both the hides.

Having struck the deal with the WPSI decoy team, Gosai was asked to deliver the leopard skins at a place close to Kali Temple near the tea estate under Vasant Vihar police station area on Wednesday. Here Gosai was arrested by a joint team of STF and WPSI personnel. The raiding team recovered both skins from Gosai following which he was taken to Vasant Vihar police station for further interrogation.

Gosai's confession to police has alarmed wildlife activists. According to Gosai, he killed leopards one by one as the animals had earlier killed his pet mules. "It's alarming that villagers are killing big cats out of rage to settle scores with them. They need to be sensitised towards conservation of wildlife," Aggarwal said.

Nearly 15 skins of leopards poached in Uttarakhand have been seized by the police in Delhi, UP and Uttarakhand this year. This is in addition to the poaching of nine leopards during the same period.