OIMBATORE: Seven persons were arrested for hunting a spotted deer at Chengal Padugai in the Mettupalayam forest range on Saturday. Forest officials seized 8kg of meat and a country-made single barrel gun from them. The country-made gun holder was handed over to the police.
The seven arrested are Devaraj, 60, Rasu, 43, Rathinasamy, 36, Marimuthu, 34, Jaffar Ali, 63, Senthil, 35, and Krishnasamy, 41.
"Devaraj, who shot the spotted deer, had taken agricultural land on lease near the forest. The deer entered his field and he killed it with his friends," said Mustafa, forest range officer, Mettupalayam forest range.
"All of them were booked under the Wildlife Protection Act and fined Rs 25,000 each and later they were let off. But Devaraj was handed over to Mettupalayam police for using the gun without a licence," said Mustafa.
He added that a team has been monitoring the poachers' movements in the range.
