Alwar: A court here on Thursday sent a man to three years imprisonment for poaching two panthers inside the Sariska tiger reserve nearly 10 years ago. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 80,000 on the convict. The man had killed two panthers after setting up a trap and then sold the skin to smugglers.
The court of upper chief judicial magistrate (no-2) handed judgement to one FulyaBawaria, a resident of Pratapgarh forest area in Sariska. As per the convict's modus operandi, he would dug up pits in the ground and set up iron traps to catch wild animals. He trapped two panthers, one in Sariska'sFatyaKhol Beet Sili and another in Ramji KaGuwada areas. He shot the panthers with a gun and peeled off their skin. He then sold the skins to smugglers for Rs 5,000 each. The forest police investigated the case and arrested the man. It was established in the court how the man had killed the panthers and sold the skin to two men, identified as JagdishKhatik and Jassa.
The man was convicted under four different sections of the Wildlife Protection Act by the court.
The incident had taken place around the same time when the forest department and the Rajasthan government had faced all-round criticism over the disappearance of tigers from Sariska. Poaching was found to be a reason for the dwindling tiger population. Spread over an area of nearly 1,281 square kilometres, Sariska accommodates 13 tigers, according to the latest Census. The Sariska reserve, originally a hunting preserve of the erstwhile rulers of Alwar, was declared a wildlife reserve in 1955. It got the status of a National Park in 1979.
