DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand forest minister Harak Singh Rawaton Wednesday directed the head of forest force (HOFF) to initiate an enquiry into the matter pertaining to the seizure of five tiger skins and 130 kg of tiger bones from Corbett Tiger Reserve in March last year and sought a report within one month. Rawat also said that the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will be roped in for monitoring tigers in Corbett and verify the facts on missing or dead big cats in the past more than one year.
Rajiv Mehta, honorary warden of Rajaji Tiger Reserve, met the forest minister on Wednesday regarding the matter. It may be mentioned that Mehta had made allegations against chief wildlife warden (CWLW) DVS Khati, the then Corbett park director Samir Sinha and the head of anti-poaching cell Dhananjai Mohan (who conducted a probe after the arrest of the gang at the behest of Khati) that these officials connived to brush aside this sensitive matter. Mehta has now demanded that these officials should be transferred for an impartial probe by CBI.
"I deny all the allegations of tampering with the investigation into the case in which five tiger skins were seized last year. I also object to tiger monitoring by WII, as we have already conducted annual tiger monitoring by our forest officials," said Khati.
Rajiv Mehta, who is also member of State Wildlife Board, said, "The main accused and member of the Bawaria gang, Ramchander, had admitted to the killing tigers in Corbett territory by entering the park through the forest of SonaNadi Wildlife Sanctuary (SNWS) from their temporary residence in Kotkhadar area of Bijnor. Around 32 pits were found in Kotkhadar areas where the accused had hid the skins and bones of tigers killed in the past three years. At least 20-25 tigers were killed by the Bawaria gang during this period. Neither the authorities in Corbett nor the CWLW had any inkling about the gang's activities. Seizure of 120 kg bones clearly suggests that at least 10 tigers were killed."
Mehta said that the "WII had been conducting annual monitoring and estimation of tigers in Corbett all these years. But after WII scientists last year corroborated that four of the five tiger skins seized last year were of big cats from Corbett, Khati got the annual monitoring conducted by Corbett authorities this year to hide the fact that tigers were poached in these years."
RTI reply from police department revealed that skins of 26 leopards and seven tigers were recovered in 2015, and in the past four months alone, around 30 leopard skins and bile pods of black bears have been recovered in the state.
