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Pataudi asked to appear before police by June 10
Jhajjar, June 7 According to a PTI report, the police team recovered from the South Delhi house of Pataudi the Gypsy from which the carcasses of the black buck and two rabbits were sezied on Friday night near here. In another development Madan Singh, a resident of Aurangpur village near here, who is also among the accused in the case, was produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate Mr Sudheer Jiwan, who sent him to judicial custody till April 13. Meanwhile, the carcass of the black buck brought here by a police team from Delhi was late last night buried in the same place from where Naresh Kadian, chief of the Haryana chapter of the People for Animals organisation had exhumed it. The burial which took place in the presence of the Tehsildar, Wildlife Inspector and a veterinarian was videographed. Earlier, the police had issued summonses to the seven accused yet to be arrested to present themselves for questioning latest by 5 p.m. today. However, none of them reported at the police station till the expiry of the deadline. The summonses had been issued under Section 160 of the CrPC. Meanwhile the police extended the deadline to 5 p.m. on June 10. Police sources said if they failed to join the investigation, the legal process for their arrest would be initiated. They said Pataudi’s house in Delhi was raided to recover the vehicles used in the commissioning of the crime. Incidentally, the police had let all the accused go along with their vehicles on the night of June 3 after they were caught carrying the carcasses in a Gypsy. Residents of Aurangpur and its neighbouring villages told The Tribune today that several high profile and influential residents of Delhi have been visiting the area for hunting on a regular basis. The situation has come to such a pass that some villagers had turned hunting guides to assist them in poaching in return for money. They said though poaching had been going on for several years, it came into limelight only after the Nawab of Pataudi was caught poaching last week.  |
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Poaching: Haryana to recruit more forest guards Panchkula, June 7 This was stated by the Forests Minister, Haryana, Mr Venod Sharma, while talking to mediapersons here today. Mr Sharma was in town to preside over a meeting to assess the various projects of the Forest Department this afternoon. Answering queries about what steps are being taken to stop poaching, Mr Sharma said he was in the process of finalising a policy on strengthening the wildlife wing. This even as senior forest officials in private rued that the police had scuttled the investigations by not involving the Wildlife Department. Mr Sharma, however, did not divulge more in this connection. It may be mentioned that the Wildlife Wing of the department has a minimal strength of Wildlife Inspectors and guards. Though Haryana boasts of a forest area of almost 8 per cent of the total land and a wide variety of flora and fauna, the wildlife officials in the state are poorly equipped and in small strength. In answer to a question about the rising incidents of forest fires in Haryana and allegations regarding the fires being caused by certain individuals to finish off evidence of thefts in forests, the minister said he was not aware of any such allegations. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Mr J.P.L. Srivastava, added that the Forest Department had taken all precautions to control forest fires by adding custom made fire tenders. “All forest fires in the state are also reported to the Auditor General to tell him of the loss suffered by the Forest Department,” he said. Mr Sharma was later apprised of the various projects being undertaken by the department, plantation drives in the state and internationally sponsored schemes like the Haryana Community Forestry Project and the Japan Bank funded project for increasing forest cover in the state. |
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Police fails to make any headway in Pataudi case Chandigarh, June 7 Habitual offender MAK Pataudi had allegedly killed over 2000 ducks and geese in Kashmir once. He got away when Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah used “special status” of Kashmir as an excuse and said the Wildlife Protection Act was not applicable to Kashmir. Pataudi’s son, Saif Ali Khan, was once detained for poaching along with Salman Khan. The two were caught hunting black bucks while on a shooting schedule in Jodhpur. The case is still pending in the court of law. The post-mortem report adds while the two rabbits died of gunshots, the black buck died due to “hemorrhage and asphyxiation”. Wildlife experts, however, believe the latter explanation little and question the hurry with which the police acted. Lt-Gen Baljit Singh, an ardent animal lover, says, “Where was the need to burn portions of the black buck’s body in such a haste? The manner in which the police handled the case without informing the Wildlife Department for quite a while is highly objectionable. Pataudi’s act is one of gross violation of unwritten ethics of hunting as a sport.” For its part, the police today served notices on the accused and asked them to get their statements recorded. The only man facing arrest so far is Madan, who was remanded in judicial custody today. While the arrest of former Indian cricket captain and his accomplices is waited, the police is proceeding stringently against Jhajjar-based animal welfare activist Naresh Kadian. Kadian has been booked under the IPC and the Wildlife Protection Act. His crime — he exhumed the half burnt carcass of the black buck and took it to Delhi Zoo for a post-mortem examination. Kadian says, “The police is dragging their feet in this case. It has been behaving suspiciously. Why did it bury the remains of the black buck when it was such an important case property? I risked my life to protect the law. And now it is after me.” Kadian has generated enough support for himself, so much so that the villagers are ready to face arrest with him. Meanwhile, the experts are doubting the role of the police which did not inform the wildlife officers of the incident in Dadanpur village. Supreme Court lawyer Raj Panjwani, credited with getting the notorious poacher Sansar Chand convicted, said, “This is a case of gross violation of the Wildlife Protection Act. The accused were caught red-handed with carcasses. But the police acted suspiciously by not informing the wildlife officers immediately. Under the law the wildlife officers should have done the job of recording statements of the accused without wasting any time. Had it not been for Naresh Kadian, the evidence would also have gone.” If proved, punishment in the case can be serious — minimum one year to six years’ imprisonment if the police proves the hunting took place in sanctuary area; up to one year imprisonment if hunting was done outside protected area. In either case, the crime is made out, said Mr Panjwani. Similar views were expressed by Mr Ashok Kumar of the Wildlife Trust of India which conducted the postmortem examination on the black buck in Delhi.
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