Acting on a tip-off, Ramchandra alias Chander was arrested with tiger skins and bones weighing 125 kg from Shaympur area of the district, a release from Uttarakhand Police’s Special Task Force said.

However, four of Chander’s accomplices fled taking advantage of the darkness and dense forests, it said.

The recoveries made from Chander are worth over Rs 70 lakh in the international market, it said, adding it is the first case where tiger skins and bones in such quantities have been recovered in the state.

Police had received reports that members of the notorious Bavariya gang were poaching endangered animals in parts of western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and selling them to wildlife smugglers in Nepal and Tibet, the release said.

Chander and his accomplices, all of whom hail from Bathinda in Punjab, poached in the forests of Haridwar, Kotdwar and Najibabad which fall under the jurisdiction of Corbett Tiger Reserve and Rajaji National Park.

Investigation revealed that they were on their way to Najibabad to strike a deal with foreign wildlife smugglers. A case was lodged against the accused under the Wildlife Conservation Act, 1972, at Shyampur police station, it said.

The forests are being combed in search of the absconding accused, the release added. - PTI