HUBBALLI: The investigation into the poaching case of Great Indian Gaur reported on August 19 near Sirsi has opened up a can of worms with forest officials looking at more arrests. Already, seven people have been arrested for shooting down a gaur near Balur village of Siddarpur taluk. The subsequent investigation has now revealed that there is an active network involved in poaching and smuggling gaur meat to various customers in the district.
On August 19, Abdul Jabbar Khan (62) and with his son Harris (21) were informed about a movement of a gaur near Balur village of Siddapur taluk. The father-son duo came to hunt down the gaur along with a gun. After shooting down the gaur, Khan had gone near the animal but was attacked and he died on the spot. Harris told the police that his father died in a wild boar attack.
The local foresters found it after an investigation that Khan’s death was due to gaur attack and there were more people involved in the incident. Following a tip-off from forest officials, the police managed to arrest seven people. The foresters who took custody of the accused have now unearthed a larger nexus between poachers, locals and buyers.
On Friday, the forest officials arrested Lakshinarayan Hegde (50) from Siddapur, who is said to be the main informer for poachers. The foresters are investigating whether he used to consume meat, sell it or used to extract money from poaching gangs. During investigation, he revealed about previous poaching cases in the same area. He also led the investigation team which tracked bones and horns from gaurs which were shot down a few days before Bakrid festival.
“The seven accused and Lakshinarayan Hegde confessed to have shot down several gaurs in the past. We are yet to trace the network which we believe is spread till Bhatkal, where there are buyers of wild meat. Each kilo of gaur meat is sold at over `600 and each guar can fetch nearly `5 lakh to poachers,” informed an investigating officer from Sirsi division.
“We are trying to trace the network and looking for at least five more people. Among the eight arrested so far, some of the them were also involved in previous poaching cases,” he said.The Forest Department is now investigating the role of Hegde in various other crimes. “Provoking someone for hunting can also be amounted to punishment under wildlife laws. He had hidden the gaur horns near a stream in his property and bones were recovered from the site where the gaur was shot down,” the officer added.