BHOPAL: Statutory and regulatory limitations are constraining the Madhya Pradesh forest department in effectively probing organised wildlife crime, particularly offences involving digital coordination and transnational networks.
With the forest and wildlife crime probing officers not notified presently as authorised agencies by the Centre to directly obtain telecom data like call detail records (CDRs) and location based services (LBS) from telecom service providers, the forest department is compelled to depend upon other departments, particularly police, or central agencies for such critical information, leading to procedural delays, which affect the timeliness and effectiveness of investigations.
“The limitation is particularly significant in cases of wildlife poaching and trafficking, where the accused frequently use mobile communication, digital platforms and location masking to evade detection,” the forest department has stated in a submission to the MP High Court, which is hearing a plea by Bhopal-based wildlife activist Ajay Dubey on spurt in tiger deaths.
The state government has taken up the matter with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), seeking issuance of a suitable notification enabling wildlife crime investigating agencies, such as the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and forest department, to directly access such data in accordance with law. But nothing concrete has been achieved so far.
The absence of such enabling power is now a systemic constraint rather than an administrative lapse, underscoring the pressing need for appropriate Central level statutory facilitation to strengthen wildlife crime enforcement.
According to sources associated with investigation of wildlife crime cases in the state, they have to depend on the police for CDRs and LBS for locating poaching gangs, particularly organised syndicates.
‘Most tiger deaths due to natural causes’
The MP forest department told the HC that a scientific analysis of 55 tiger deaths in 2025 shows that a majority of the deaths were due to natural causes and not attributable to poaching.