Chhattisgarh: Police arrest four with tiger and leopard skins

Four people were arrested on Sunday with skin of a tiger and a leopard, worth lakhs in international market, were seized from them in Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, police said on Monday.

Acting on a tip-off, police arrested Mahattam Dahivele (50), Puneet Ram Nagwanshi (45), Chainlal Yadav (25), and Santosh Dhruv (26) from Bhanupratappur police station limits, an official said, adding that the arrested persons are wildlife traders. "Police had the input that Dahivele and Nagwanshi, who are natives of neighbouring Balod and Rajnandgaon districts, respectively, had arrived near Bansla village of Bhanupratappur to procure wild animal skin from Yadav and Dhruv, following which a joint team of local crime branch and police swung into action," he said.

All the four individuals were picked from the forest between a main road and Bansla village, the official said, adding that skin of a leopard was found in a gunny bag from their possession. Based on the information given by them, police recovered skin of a tiger from the house of Yadav in Dhutapara Kesekodi village under Koyalibeda police station limits of the district, he said. The official said the arrested persons claimed the hide of the felines worth around Rs 25 lakh in the international market. However, police are yet to ascertain the exact value of the seizure. A case has been registered in this connection and investigation is on, the police official said.