The startling revelation came to the fore following their arrest along with peacock carcasses on Tuesday. The arrested are Nasir Hussain, 40, from T Narasipura taluk, Mazoon aka Billa, 33, and Shivaraj, 21, both from Tiger Block in Heggadadevana Kote taluk. Police have seized traps and nets from them.

Police and forest authorities said Nasir Hussain, a petty shop owner, purchased peacock/peahen from Mazoon and Shivaraj at Rs 500 per bird. Hussain would then supply it to hotel owners in many parts of Mysore. He has been into the business for several weeks before getting caught with 11 peacock carcasses on Tuesday.

Wildlife Protection Act 1972 says no person shall hunt any wild animal specified in Schedule I, II, III and IV except on certain circumstances if the animal has become a threat to human life. Peacock is a scheduled bird and it is listed in part IV of Schedule I.

Forest cell police officer M C Rajashekar told TOI that acting on a tip-off, they caught Nasir Hussain when he was entering Mysore city from outer ring road near Sathgalli bus stop. Apart from the 11 peacocks, he was also carrying 28 grey partridges in a bag on his two-wheeler.

During questioning, Hussain said he was coming from Kadu Kothanahalli, Maddur taluk of Mandya district, after collecting fresh carcasses of peacocks to supply it to hotels in Mysore. But he did not reveal the names of the hotels here, the officer said.

Later, a team was sent to Kadu Kothanahalli to arrest the poachers - Mazoon and Shivaraj, who supplied it to Hussain. The operation was supervised by divisional police forest cell IGP Arun Chakravarthy and SP Jinendra Kanagavi.

The case has been handed over to Mysore Forest authorities, who booked a case under Wildlife Protection Act 1972. The responsibility of investigation now lies with forest authorities as police forest cell officials only detect cases and can't investigate them.

Modus operandi

Rajshekar, a sub-inspector, said Mazoon and Shivaraj, both from Mysore, shifted to Kadu Kothanahalli in Mandya some six months and are into poaching of birds including peacock, grey partridges, ibis and water birds.

The duo would lay traps in fields in Kadu Kothanahalli and Kirgavalu in Mallavalli taluk to catch the birds or cover up their heads and crawl up to the peacocks using cows as a shield and physically catch them.

QUOTES

This is the first ever incident of peacock killing being reported in Mysore. We will write to departments and authorities concerned to prevent similar crimes. -C P Durgegowda, Assistant conservator of forests

The carcasses of the birds were still fresh indicating they may have been killed only 24- 36 hours before they were seized. -Dr H S Prayag, Vet, wildlife forest division

I have come to know there has been an incident of killing peacocks near Mysore but I am yet to receive report from forest department personnel. -Dipak Sarmah, Karnataka Chief Wildlife Warden