Raid at ex-armyman’s house throws up 117-kg meat, ₹1 cr
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) raided the house of a retired army officer in Civil Lines area on Saturday and recovered 117 kg raw meat, animal skin and ivory along with cash and arms.
A team of forest department officials also joined the raid at the house of Col (retd) Devendra Kumar and seized leopard skin, trophies of black buck and sambar deer, three horns of sambar deer, eight deer skulls (two without antlers), teeth of wild animals, 117 kg raw meat in 45 packets stuffed in a refrigerator and a knife with ivory grip.
A forest department official said the meat could be of blue bull or deer and added that the sample had been sent to laboratory for testing.
The DRI team also recovered ₹99.98 lakh cash, guns of different bores and cartridges from the house.
Col (retd) Devendra Kumar and his son Prashant Vishnoi run a security agency. Prashant is a national level skeet shooter and secured 65th rank in the National Shooting Championship at Jaipur in November last year.
The forest department, which also has police powers, have registered a case against Col Kumar and Prashant under the Wildlife Protection Act. No arrests have been made in this connection but teams have been constituted to trace Prashant who is at large.
Chief conservator of forest (west zone) Mukesh Kumar has directed the teams to investigate Prashant’s possible links with poachers.