More than 24 hours after three flamingoes were shot in the mangrove creek in Kandivli, the Charkop police arrested two locals from the fishing community on Saturday afternoon.

Yeshwant Bhandari, 48, and Prabhakar Bandhari, 50, both residing in Charkop village, were arrested from their homes. The rifle used to kill the flamingoes was also confiscated and is in police custody.

“We had photographs of both that served as evidence while arresting them. There was no evidence of the remains of the bird because they de-feathered them in the mangroves itself, which got washed with the tides,” said police inspector Pravin Patil.

The duo arrested has been booked under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act and will be produced in court on Sunday. If proven guilty, they could serve up to two years imprisonment or have to pay a fine.

On July 22, Charkop resident Gautam Singh on hearing gunshots, rushed to his window and took photographs of the culprits dragging the three flamingoes through the mangrove muck. Soon after, he called the police control room asking them to nab the culprits. Even though the Charkop police reached the spot, they didn’t manage to catch the perpetrators.

In the evening, the police collected the photographs from Singh based on which the arrests were made.

“Arresting them is no great shakes. Despite having photographs and almost seeing the act, the police took one day to get them,” said Singh. “If the case is not built upon, then this will be like any other poaching case which falls flat in court. And my fear is that this too will go down that road.”

Called the star bird of the city, flamingoes are protected species that migrate to Mumbai from Kutch at the onset of winter and stay on till the first rains. Though a breeding season, some of these birds stay back in Mumbai and get scattered at various spots.