NAGPUR: Giving a twist to the tiger poaching tale, the Biruhali sub-registrar told the court on Saturday that he did not verify any valid documents before issuing birth certificates to two tiger poachers, Mamru and Chika, who are currently lodged in Nagpur Central Jail.
Mamru and Chika claimed to be juvenile and had filed an application through counsel PS Sontakke under Section 7A of the Juvenile Justice Acton on April 23. The accused said they were 18-years-old when the offence was allegedly committed by them somewhere in May 2013.
Both had submitted a birth certificate issued by sub-registrar of Biruhali near Katni, Madhya Pradesh. Interestingly, the date of application and issue for both certificates is the same. After the issue came up before judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) DS Parwani, the forest department through its special counsel Kartik Shukul challenged the legitimacy of the certificates.
The court had issued show cause to the Biruhali sub-registrar and asked him to depose. The matter came up for hearing on Saturday. Dinesh Patel, who is gram sevak and sub-registrar of Biruhali, deposed before the court.
During his examination, Patel admitted that he was told to issue birth certificates by his senior. However, while issuing the certificates he had not cross-checked or verified any valid documents submitted by the accused.
Patel told the court that certificates were issued on the basis of second-hand information supplied by some villagers. The next hearing is slated for July 17 where the sub-registrar will be cross-examined by Shukul and Sontakke.
The court has already ordered an ossification test of Mamru and Chika, but even two months later the jail authorities do not seem to have conducted the test and hence a report has not been submitted to the court.
Tiger poachers belonging to the Baheliya community are known to procure fake documents to get out on bail. Once released, they never turn up in court again. Mamru and Chika were dramatically arrested in a joint operation by crime branch police and forest officials from Mansar near Ramtek on June 6, 2013.
During interrogation, the two accused had confessed that last year 11 tiger skins were trafficked from Amdi Fata and Bhandarbodi near Ramtek by tiger skin trader Sarju Bagdi, who was arrested in Delhi and is currently lodged in Central Jail.
