Pal, 65, and Lala, 32, were arrested in a joint operation by Maharashtra forest department, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau ( WCCB) and Delhi Police on September 8, in Delhi.

A tiger skull, bones, 18 tiger nails and teeth weighing 18kg were seized from their possession. A cash of Rs50 lakh was also seized from Pal. Both Pal and Lala are wanted for their role in tiger poaching cases in Vidarbha.

Arrested trader Sarju Bagdi, who is under MCR, has confessed before the court to have procured five tiger skins from the region. These skins were supplied to Pal, who was the main financier. During raid in Delhi, Rs2.75 lakh were also seized from Sarju.

Pal and Lala were brought to Nagpur by Tihar Jail police on Thursday. When produced in the court, special counsel for forest department Kartik Shukul filed an application seeking FCR of the accused. However, defence counsel Jayant Alone opposed the FCR as jurisdiction of crime was Delhi and, secondly, Chacha's name doesn't appear anywhere.

"The application seeking FCR did not mention anything about recovery. It only stated about need for interrogating the accused. This can be done by sending a forest team in Tihar Jail. I opposed the custody of the accused," said Alone.

On the contrary, Shukul explained the history of the accused and told the court that both Pal and Lala were habitual offenders and used to supply tiger skins and bones to notorious poachers Sansarchand, who is languishing in Delhi jail.

Shukul also argued that Sarju has confessed that his brother had introduced Chacha as Suraj Pal. Besides, he also said that call detail records (CDRs) show Lala accompanied Sarju when he was at Amdi Fata to procure tiger skins.

On the issue of jurisdiction of the accused, Shukul submitted that both the accused were wanted in killing of tiger in Ghatang (Melghat) in May. The special counsel also read out confession statements of Sarju in which Pal's name figures everywhere.

Pal alias Chacha's name also appears in supplementary charge sheet. His international links of trafficking tiger products to Nepal, Tibet and China also needs to be explored, Shukul told the court. Hearing both the parties, the court finally granted 5-day FCR to the accused.

According to wildlife experts in the field, Chacha seems to be an influential tiger skin trader who was never caught before despite into the trade for over 30 years. He is also said to have strong connections in the Delhi Police. This can be gauged from the fact that when Pal was arrested on September 8, police had not sought his custody.

On Thursday too, even before the local court could give its decision, the Delhi Police accompanying Pal and Lala had bought train tickets of the accused assuming they would be set free.

In another development, magisterial custody of other poaching case accused Minar, Srival, Ujiyaar, Nirafal and Lupustan was extended till November 7. All were taken to Melghat for probe in Ghatang case. They were also produced on Thursday.