On May 21, the patrolling party found a five-member gang moving in Retwada in Raipur forest range bordering MP. One of the gang members had a 'bharmar' gun while another had a spear, generally used to kill herbivores.
Chief conservator of forests (CCF) and field director KP Singh said, "I'm visiting the spot and have also alerted all the three divisions in MTR - Sipna, Akot and Gugamal - following the gang's movement. On May 22, a forest guard patrolling near a waterhole saw the gang and tried to catch hold of one of them but as the poachers were four in number, they managed to escape," he said.
Singh said during the scuffle, one of the gang members carrying clothes dropped them at the spot. "We are tracking the gang and have also sealed the areas bordering MP and help of local police and sniffer dogs is being taken. I suspect the gang must be concentrating on herbivores as they have not fired at on the staff yet," Singh said.
Principal secretary (forests) Praveen Pardeshi said all the poaching cases in the recent past have been brought to light only by the forest guards and not by NGOs. "This is a good sign. We are not hiding anything. The Palasgaon and Borda tiger poaching cases were detected by our guards," Pardeshi said. Read the full report here.
Source: Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN, Nagpur.
