BENGALURU: The Central Investigative Department, Forest Wing, arrested a gang of five men for allegedly trying to sell an owl for `2.5 lakh. The arrested are Manmohan, Salman, Basit, Wahid and Mudassir. The main accused Manmohan is a native of Rajasthan and works in a real estate firm. The other four are residents of Cottonpet in the city. They are all aged between 22 and 28.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that they were not involved in any such incidents earlier.
A senior police officer from Cottonpet police station said that forest officer Narendra Babu had filed a complaint stating that the accused had brought an owl from Hunasuru forest and were trying to sell it in the city. They were staying in a guest house near Cottonpet main road and were contacting interested buyers.
Based on a tip-off from the guest house staff, police raided the room and nabbed the accused. The bird was kept in a cage. They were booked under Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and were handed to judicial custody.
Accused involved in real estate deals
Sources said that the accused used to keep the owl in a few empty commercial and residential spaces, which were up for sale, and told the property owners that having an owl in one’s property is a bad omen and made them sell the space for a very less price. However, police denied this and said nothing of this sort was found during investigations.