CHENNAI: A Judicial Magistrate Court in Sathyamangalam has sentenced six members of a Bawaria poaching gang to three years rigorous imprisonment in a landmark tiger and leopard poaching case, the first conviction secured by the Tamil Nadu Forest and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (TNFWCCB) since its inception.
The accused — Krishan (59), Ramchandar (50), Ratna (40), Bimala (51), Sunita (35) and Mangal (28) — hail from Punjab and Rajasthan and belong to the nomadic Bawaria community. They were arrested in February 2023 after forest officials and police, acting on intelligence from the non-profit Wildlife SOS, carried out a covert joint operation in the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.
According to court records, the gang had been camping in the Arasur area under the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, operating from temporary tents, believed to have entered Tamil Nadu years ago under the guise of traders.
On February 19, 2023, they trapped a female tiger and a male leopard in the Avalanchi forest near Ooty. The animals were killed using spears, knives and crude hunting tools. The gang then skinned the carcasses, removed bones, claws, teeth and tails, and salted the tiger's skin for preservation. Leopard parts were packed in plastic for transport. The remaining carcasses were dumped deep inside the forest.
Three days later, a raid on their camp led by the Sathyamangalam Range Forest Officer uncovered a 10-foot tiger skin with nails intact, four carapace shells, four jaw bones with teeth, eight limb bones with claws, two tail bones with fur, 14 neck bones, 24 vertebrae, four rib bones and 58 other bones. Active jaw traps, knives, and spears were also recovered. DNA analysis confirmed the remains belonged to a tiger and a leopard, both Schedule I species protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
The prosecution presented 17 witnesses, including forest officials and veterinary experts, along with 72 documents and 35 seized exhibits. Confessional statements given voluntarily to forest officers were accepted as admissible evidence. In the 38-page judgment, Judicial Magistrate P Ranjithkumar stressed that the accused had committed serious violations of the Wildlife Protection Act, which prescribes stringent punishment for crimes against endangered species.
Each accused was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 25,000. The court also ordered that the 913 days already spent in custody be deducted from their sentence under Section 428 of the CrPC. Provisions were made for one accused's minor child to remain with her in prison for up to six months in line with jail rules.
R Kanchana, Director of TNFWCCB, described the case as a major breakthrough against interstate poaching networks, noting that tiger poaching was driven by international demand for body parts used in traditional medicine and luxury markets. Wildlife SOS, whose investigators infiltrated the gang and shared intelligence, termed the conviction "historic" and a message that crimes against India’s national animal will not go unpunished.
The Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, part of the Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve, is home to more than 80 tigers.