Two IISc researchers Ishan Agrawal and Aniruddha Dutt Roy and two of their helpers were detained by the PTR staff on April 6 night around 11 p.m. when they were found moving inside the protected area near village Bakchur. They had parked their vehicle on the national highway and had wandered inside the park while driving on the Panna-Madla section.Â
The PTR officials informed Newsroom24x7 that the researchers were caught moving without permission inside the protected area. They were also booked on the charge of hunting as the forest team found them possessing specimens of two scorpions and a lizard (skink). During interrogation, they told the foresters that they entered the forest area as one of them wanted to relieve himself.
Throughout the night, the IISc researchers remained in the PTR custody and the next day at about 4 p.m on April 7, they were presented in the Panna district court, which remanded them to judicial custody. On Monday morning (April 9), they were released on bail.
It is learnt that the researchers, after they were apprehended and detained by the foresters, were not allowed to contact anyone and their mobile phones were seized. They were also not allowed to avail the services of a lawyer to defend their case when they were presented in court. The researchers had told the foresters that they were working on a Government of India Ministry of Science and Technology funded phylogenetic project focussing on lizards. Read the full report here.
Source: Newsroom 24x7.
