Baripada: A team led by the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) has Friday started an investigation into the alleged poaching of a Royal Bengal Tiger (RBT) in the fringe area of Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) area after the recent seizure of its hide. The team is looking into different angles of the RBT skin seizure. They have spread a dragnet to nab the poachers and people involved in wildlife crime in and around the Similipal National Park.
Notably, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch had seized the hide of an RBT from the fringe areas of the national park in the wee hours of December 14. The STF subsequently arrested a 21-year-old man and seized the tiger skin in Belpal under Udala police limits.
The initial investigation had suggested that the big cat was possibly shot dead by poachers. A gunshot wound was noticed on the seized hide. It has been sent to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in Dehradun for a detailed examination. The seizure came days after the poaching of an elephant followed by a subsequent attempt by three Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) staffers to cover it up. Such incidents have pointed to the fact that wildlife poaching has been going on inside the STR area. The STF exposed wildlife crime through a covert operation. The 21-year-old Debasish Patra was lured into a decoy operation by the STF for the sale of the hide.
Well past midnight, a team of STF nabbed Patra with the skin but two others, including the mastermind, managed to flee. It was said that the tiger may have been poached in about a month’s time as its claws were intact on the skin which had not completely dried. Patra could possibly be a middleman who was waiting to hand over the hide to a customer when the STF conducted the raid.
The STF later arrested another accused while another is absconding. The recent spate of incidents including the poaching of elephants has raised a question mark on protection measures in the tiger habitat. The Forest department recently arrested three of its suspended officials for allegedly covering up the poaching of a male elephant and burning its carcass to destroy evidence. Turam Purty was the eyewitness in the alleged poaching and burning of the carcass. Purty’s wife has lodged a complaint at Jashipur police station against the three accused — Jenabila ranger in-charge Shiv Shankar Samal, forester Chandrabhanu Behera, and forest guard Binod Kumar Das charging them with murder in the said case.
When the forest staff had burnt the poached elephant’s carcass and thrown the charred remains to a nearby stream in an attempt to destroy evidence, Purty was present there. He sent some photos of the incident to the higher authorities. Acting on it, the Forest department conducted a probe and suspended the three accused. The three had threatened Purty with dire consequences if he opened his mouth. Later, Purty drank poison December 11 and was admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack where he passed away during treatment December 16.
Various outfits and wildlife activists staged demonstrations over the growing wildlife crimes in the Similipal area. They demanded a CBI probe into the poaching of the RBT and the elephant. A local outfit Bhanja Sena has warned of agitation outside the office of the STR deputy director.