Hazaribagh, April 10: Two men were arrested late last night for allegedly killing a spotted deer or chital ( Axis axis), the carcass of which the police recovered from the boot of a car owned by one of the duo, highlighting how amateur poaching goes on unabated in Hazaribagh district, which has two wildlife sanctuaries, two dams and forests.
The carcass had a bullet wound.
Car owner Amit Kumar Singh, a civil court employee, had a rifle on him. Forensic tests will establish if the bullet came from the same rifle.
Chital is protected under Schedule III of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Protesting his innocence, Singh, who was with his farmer friend Radheshyam Singh in the car, said he discovered the deer carcass on the road and had picked it up to hand it over to the police.
But, Tatijharia OC Ashok Kumar, who made the arrests during a vehicle checking drive on Hazaribagh-Giridih Road, said he wasn't buying that explanation.
"Though we will verify his statements, villagers last evening had informed us about suspicious activities in Banhe forests following which we went there. There, we were told a white car was seen escaping the moment we came," he said, adding he immediately ordered a vehicle checking drive near the police station on Hazaribagh-Giridih Road.
When the turn of Amit's car, a silvery-white Maruti Alto, came up, the two men told the police they were going to Hazaribagh town. When the police checked the car's boot, they found the chital carcass with a bullet wound stuffed inside.
A rifle and bullets were also recovered from Amit, who failed to furnish legal documents related to them, OC Kumar said.
Today, police lodged an FIR under Section 148 of CrPC, Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and Section 27 of Arms Act against the duo who were forwarded to central jail on judicial custody.
Contacted, additional chief conservator of forests Pramod Agarwal who went to Banhe and also grilled the duo, said it was a serious matter. "We will take strict action," he said.
However, clandestine incidents of amateur poaching are common in Kasturikhap on the southern fringes of Hazaribagh town, near Charwa Dam, where Amit and Radheshyam stay, a source unwilling to be named, said. "Many residents of Kasturikhap and nearby localities own rifles to illegally shoot migratory birds in Charwa Dam," he said.
Deer meat is sold for Rs 500 to Rs 800 a kilo in Hazaribagh markets, an obvious indicator that the forest department had failed to curb poaching.
