Two arrested for killing chinkaras, lab gets samples
Forest department officials on Tuesday arrested two accused of poaching chinkaras or the Indian gazelle. The officials also recovered some meat from the spot and a sample has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to be tested.
Vikram Kesri Pradhan, deputy conservator of forest in Barmer, while confirming the report said that on December 22 residents of Jalipa, about 30 kilometres from Barmer, had complained of several incidents of chinkara poaching in the area.
Pradhan said that on the basis of the complaints he had ordered a probe, following which the poachers were arrested. The investigation in the case has been handed over to Chandra Sekhar Kausik, who is the ranger at the forest department in Barmer.
Pradhan said that on Tuesday they caught two accused while they were poaching chinkaras and arrested them under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. He, however, avoided sharing the names of the accused and other details of the case claiming that till he gets a confirmation in the FSL report about the meat he would not be able to any comment on the issue.
Jaikishan Bishnoi, a wildlife activist, who claimed to be the president of the Bishnoi Mahasabha said that he had complained to the forest department about poaching in the area.
Bishnoi claimed that poaching has been taking place for the past three months and he had complained to the authorities but no action was taken. He claimed that labourers of a private company were poaching chinkaras near Jalipa village, which borders a forest, and Chinkaras often stray into the village. He alleged that the labourers poached the animals and supplied it to the company officials.
Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner districts in western Rajasthan are home to around 8,000 chinkaras. In January the Rajasthan high court had acquitted actor Salman Khan in a chinkara poaching case dating back to 2006.
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