Bhubaneswar: Following the arrest of two persons in connection with the leopard skins smuggling case from Giripuja jungle, under Daspalla police limits in Nayagarh district, a Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch arrested the mastermind of the case Saturday morning.
The mastermind has been identified as Laxmidhar Nayak, (36), resident of Jamuganda village in Nayagarh district.
Two leopard skins and animal bones were seized from his possession.
The seized skins and bones will be sent to Wild Life Institute of India, Dehradun for chemical examination. Investigation related to the matter is underway.
Sources said that the arrest of the mastermind comes five days after the STF nabbed two persons for smuggling skins of leopard and deer.
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 Daspalla police limits in Nayagarh district.
Acting on a tip off about wildlife criminals planning 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.
PNN