TIRUNELVELI: The Tirunelveli forest officials detained seven people on charges of poaching a spotted deer in P Alankulam village, which comes under Sankarankoil range. A sum of Rs 1.75 lakh was collected as fine for the offence.

A spotted deer was found dead on November 20 at the boundary of the village. Following the incident, a special team was formed to enquire about the same, said C H Padma, district forest officer, Tirunelveli.

The special team led by Vismiju Vishwanathan, assistant conservator of forest (training range officer in charge) enquired about the incident and found that K Balamurugan, P Krishna Kumar, K Muthupandi, M Krishnakumar, P Muthukumar, N Dharmadurai, and G Rajapandi from the same village were involved in chasing and hunting the animal, during which it died. This was confirmed by the post mortem report too.

A case was registered for hunting under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. All the accused, who were brought to the Sankarankovil range office for enquiry, accepted the charges during interrogation.

"Each one of them has been fined Rs 25,000 for the offence of poaching. The information provided by the Perunkottur panchanyat president K Kalaippandian proved to be vital for this case," the officer added.