Pulbani: A poacher has been reportedly arrested with a leopard skin in Odisha’s Kandhamal district on Sunday night. The wildlife criminal has been identified as Belarsen Kanhar, the son of Abhimanyu Kanhar of Kurkanapali village under Firingia police station of the district.
On the basis of reliable information, a team of Special Task Force (STF) conducted raid with the help of Kandhamal Police last night on the side of SH-1 near Manipadar village of the district regarding dealing/possession of wildlife products by wildlife criminals and arrested Belarsen.
During the search, one leopard skin, cash of Rs 5500 along with other incriminating materials were recovered from the possession of Belarsen. As the accused person could not produce any authority in support of possession of such Leopard Skin, he was apprehended, said sources adding that he will be forwarded to the Court of SDJM, Phulbani.
In this connection, STF PS Case No.11dated 04.03.2024 U/s 379/411 IPC r/w. Section 51 of Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 was registered. The skin will be sent to Director WII, Derhadun for biological examination. Investigation is going on.
The accused was earlier involved in Kodala PS Case 224/2016 U/s. 342/343/364-A/365/385/387/34 IPC.
Earlier yesterday, as many as 351 rare turtles were seized by DRI officials at the Manguli Toll plaza in Cuttack district. The turtles were seized while they were being smuggled to Karnataka from West Bengal via Odisha in a Tata Tiago. A total of three people were detained by the officials in connection with the incident, said sources.
Notably, the rare turtles belong to Schedule-I of the Wildlife protection act. Species belonging to this schedule are considered to be endangered, that require rigorous protection.
