Bhubaneswar: Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch arrested two persons for smuggling skins of leopard and deer from Giripuja jungle, under Dasapalla police limits in Nayagarh district Monday.
The accused have been identified as Pratap Kumar Nayak, son of Nilakantha Nayak from Sakin village under Dasapalla police limits and Kishore Chandra Dehury, son of Trinath Dehury from Dedhasura village under dasapall police limits in Nayagarh district. The duo was produced in a local court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Monday.
Acting on a tip off about wild life criminals going to strike a deal of sale of leopard and deer skins, STF raided at Giripuja jungle and nabbed the two Sunday evening. Two leopard skins and two deer skins were seized from them.
As they could not provide any valid authority in support of possession of such skins, they were found to be guilty of unlawful possession of animal skins and were arrested Monday. In this connection, a case (STF Case No-18, dated 08.06.2020) has been registered under section 379/411/120 (B) of IPC r/w 51 of Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. The seized skins will be sent to Wild Life Institute of India, Dehradun for chemical examination. Further investigation is on.
PNN