Mumbai: Five held for poaching big cat, sambar

In an operation spanning 12 hours, the Thane territorial forest department arrested five men in connection with the poaching of a leopard and sambar inside Film City, Goregaon in December 2018. All five have confessed to setting up snares in and around Film City.

Acting on a tip-off, forest officers first arrested 25-year-old Rahul Habale, who lives in Aarey Colony, on Thursday. "We detained Rahul and found several images of him posing with carcasses of protected animals such deer, sambar and even jungle fowl on his mobile phone. He

led us to his associates Ganpat Dalvi (31) and Anil Bhoye (32) who work at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research," said the forest officer.

Further inquiry revealed two more people — BMC employee Dasrath Habale (32) and Mohan Bhoye (20). Bhoye was on the run but was arrested on Friday at 4.30 am.

"All five accused are experienced in making and setting up snares to trap wild animals and have confessed to placing them all over Film City," says Range Forest Officer (RFO) Santosh Kank.

Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar, Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) (Thane) said all five have been booked under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and were produced in the court on Friday. "We have got their custody till Monday and will continue to interrogate them separately," he said. "They will spill information that will help us crack the case completely. We trying to track those who took the sambar's flesh and head and the leopard's nails."