Gutkha worth ₹1.25 crore seized

The police on Friday seized two trucks carrying gutkha worth Rs1.25 crore at Kharegaon toll naka on Friday night.

Four people travelling on the truck -- Nasrul Khan, 26, Mohammed Khan, 24, Bhure Khan, 35, and Aklim Khan, 19 -were arrested. According to the police, the accused made a secret cavity in the truck and covered with a metal sheet to make it look empty. Bharat Shelkhe, assistant commissioner of police, Thane crime branch, said, “They have confessed to their crime.”

After officials from the forest department failed to reunite a female leopard with her two-month-old male leopard cub, which was rescued from a sugarcane field at Nashik in the last week of February, the cub was sent to a rescue centre on Wednesday.

This is the second incident this year from the same area after a four-month-old female leopard was rescued from a sugarcane field in January.

The cub was spotted by some farmers near Mhalsa Kore village, who informed the forest department.

According to forest department officials, several attempts were made by veterinarians from NGO Wildlife SOS and forest officials to reunite the lost cub with its mother at the site.

The young cub was transferred to the Manikdoh Leopard Rescue Centre in Junnar. The centre is home to 34 rescued leopards.

Veterinarians from Wildlife SOS said the cub was weak and has been fed multivitamin supplements.

“We will have to hand-rear her as she cannot be returned to the wild,” said Vinay Deshmukh, veterinarian