One held for tiger death in Kheri, cops hunt for 3 others

One held for tiger death in Kheri, cops hunt for 3 others

Express News Service
Posted: Friday , Jan 08, 2010 at 0402 hrs

Lucknow: One person was arrested in connection with the death of a tiger in Kheri district late on Wednesday night.

An inquiry is on to find out the role played by Uttam (40) — a resident of Paraspur village — in the incident. “While Uttam was arrested, his accomplices managed to flee,” said Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) North Kheri, K K Singh.

The carcass of an eight-year-old male tiger was found in Paraspur area of north Kheri forest division on late Tuesday night. An iron trap, a mobile phone and electric wires were found near the spot.

The Forest department suspects the involvement of an organised gang of poachers in the incident. “We are interrogating Uttam’s links in Nepal and Bahraich area. Three others are suspected to be involved and we are trying to trace them,” said a senior Forest department official.

Representatives from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) visited the incident site on Thursday to assess the cause of the death. “The organs of the tiger, including kidneys, were found in a highly decomposed state. Samples of livers and lungs have been taken and we will take another couple of days to ascertain the cause of the death,” said a senior NTCA official.

Though the Indian Veterinary Reasearch Institute in Bareilly maintains that the carcass was over two-days old, the Forest department disagrees. “The forest chowki is barely half a kilometre away from the spot where the tiger was found. It could not have remained undetected for two days,” said DFO Singh.

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