BHUBANESWAR: In a major breakthrough, forest officials from Baripada division have arrested the prime suspect in the poaching of a rare melanistic tiger.
The accused, Kantha Bhakta (51), was apprehended by a forest team from his village Kasikundala within Udala police limits on Wednesday night, four days after the big cat hide was recovered from the fringe area of the Similipal Tiger Reserve.
Officials said, the division is now planning to recreate the crime scene to pinpoint the exact spot where the tiger was killed and uncover further details about the incident.
Apart from Bhakta, four other accused involved in the tiger poaching and trading racket have been apprehended, taking the total number of persons arrested in connection with the case to 14, informed Baripada divisional forest officer (DFO) Gobinda Chandra Biswal.
Biswal said all the five including the prime suspect have been produced before the court and will be brought on remand for further questioning in the matter.
During initial interrogation, Bhakta is said to have confessed that he killed the melanistic tiger using a country-made firearm. The skin of the melanistic tiger had been recovered by a team of forest officials from two accused Nikunja Bihari Sethi (38) and Biju Rana (34) near Pariakuli village of Kuliana within Baripada division on Sunday. Subsequently, seven others were arrested after their names came out during interrogation of the two accused.
The DFO said Bhakta and three other poachers were involved in killing of the tiger. “Efforts are on to arrest the remaining accused,”he said.
Similipal to increase protection measures
Meanwhile, the authorities of STR are working on plans to improve protection in the buffer area of the tiger reserve. Sources said the dispersing of sub-adult tigers, primarily to find their own space and avoid deadly conflict with dominant adults, has emerged as a major concern for the forest officials as it leaves them vulnerable to poaching.
The STR has a buffer or peripheral area of around 1,555.25 sq km. This buffer zone, a part of the total 2,750 sq km tiger reserve, often faces significant human-wildlife conflict and anthropogenic pressure.
A senior official said at least five to six dispersing sub-adults are in the buffer zone and strengthening protection for them has emerged as a major challenge. He said in the previous case in which a melanistic tiger skin had been seized from the buffer of Similipal was also a sub-adult.
STR field director Prakash Chand Gogineni said they have initiated steps to install more AI integrated cameras at strategic locations in the buffer and increase patrolling in those areas to improve protection measures for the big cats in the tiger reserve.
While Similipal has about 220 AI cameras now, STR authorities have initiated process for installation of another 450 such cameras in the near future, officials said.