Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Wild Life department and Uttar Pradesh police have busted a huge racket of poaching, illegal wildlife hunting and arms smuggling run by an ex-armyman in Meerut.
As per the reports, DRI official conducted the raids at Civil Lines residence of Colonel (retd) Devindra Kumar on Saturday afternoon and seized a total of 140 weapons (licensed and illegal), around 50,000 cartridges, ivory tusks, animal skin of leopard and black buck and 117 kgs of Neelgai (blue bull) meat from his possession.
A huge amount of Rs 1 crore was also recovered from the Colonel’s residence.
The seized sample will be sent to wild life institute of Dehradun for forensic examination.
Meanwhile, police have detained a few persons in connection to the case. Colonel’s son Prashant Bhushan, a national-level shooter has also come under police’s scanner. A foreign national is also said to be involved in the racket. Further inquiry will be conducted to determine how big the racket was.
