Wildlife trade, arms smuggling racket busted at ex-Colonel's home

The Times of India , Monday, May 01, 2017
Correspondent : Ishita Bhatia
MEERUT: A raid at the Meerut house of a retired Colonel, who is a 1971 war and Operation Blue Star veteran, and his national-level shooter son has unearthed Rs 1 crore in cash, arms and ammunition as well as animal skins, parts and meat, pointing to a poaching and arms smuggling racket.

44 guns- many sophisticated foreign-made weapons- 50,000 cartridges, leopard and blackbuck skins, eight deer skulls with antlers, other animal parts and 117.5 kg of meat, presumably of nilgai, were seized from their Civil Lines house.

The 17-hour-long raid was carried out jointly by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), wildlife department and local police. A case has been registered by the forest department against shooter Prashant Bishnoi and his father Col (retired) Devendra Kumar Bishnoi, but no arrests have been made so far.

Bishnoi, 72, had also served for 12 years in UP state services after retiring from the Army. His son Prashant, a national-level shooter, had participated in the 60th National Shooting Championship (big bore) 2017 at Kadarpur in Gurgaon in April and got 527 points out of 600. He also secured 151 and 174 ranks in 300metre rifle prone (men civilian) and 300metre rifle prone (men national) categories, respectively. The National Rifle Association of India has designated him as a "renowned" shooter. The family lives in Civil Lines, hardly 500m away from the forest department's office.

Raj Kumar Digvijay, additional director of DRI (Delhi zonal unit), said that 100 illegally imported firearms and 2 lakh cartridges were seized from two locations in Delhi and Meerut. A DRI source said 44 firearms and 50,000 cartridges of these were seized from Meerut alone. "The officers of the Delhi zonal unit of DRI seized more than 100 illegally imported firearms, 2 lakh cartridges and a huge stock of hides, skulls and meat of endangered animals from Delhi and Meerut," the DRI said.

Sunil Bishnoi, general secretary, AkhilBharatiyaBishnoiYuvaSangathan, said, "Either this Prashant Bishnoi is a fake name, or, if he is indeed a Bishnoi, it is a matter of shame. All of us condemn his act." Incensed, the community has vowed to ensure that the family is punished for "bringing shame" to all Bishnois.

CFO Meerut, Mukesh Kumar, said, "A case has been registered under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 against both DevendraBishnoi and Prashant. Bishnoi has not been arrested so far because his role is still not clear and investigations will be done only after his son, who is still at large, is found."

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/wildlife-trade-arms-smuggling-racket-busted-at-ex-colonels-home/articleshow/58451271.cms
 


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