CHENNAI: Going against the claims of exotic animal trader SK Keshavanathan, the Manipur forest department recently clarified that it had neither issued registration certificates nor approved the transfer of lar gibbons—one of which actor Vikram was photographed cuddling—to the former’s private farm in Erode. Keshavanathan had claimed that he had procured the primates from a Manipur-based individual.
The clarification to the Tamil Nadu forest department raises the question as to when and how the lar gibbons were smuggled into Tamil Nadu if the registration and transfer documents cited to establish their legal provenance were not issued. The Erode forest officials have now intensified investigation into the possession and transfer of the primates, with officials examining the documents produced by Keshavanathan.
The primates had drawn attention after a photograph of Vikram cuddling one of them purportedly at the Chennai residence of businessman C K Ranganathan went viral.
“We have received a reply from Manipur stating that they did not issue registration certificates for the lar gibbons. This will strengthen our case. We are examining the documents and seeking further clarification to establish how the animals were procured and transferred,” Erode District Forest Officer (DFO) K V Appala Naidu told TNIE.
According to the documents initially submitted by Keshavanathan during the inquiry, the animals were obtained from Laikhuram Singh, a resident of Manipur. The records cited three references on the Parivesh portal of the union environment ministry: a proposal dated August 11, 2020, concerning the progeny of four male and four female lar gibbons; a possession registration dated August 25, 2024; and a transfer reported on June 5, 2026, involving one male and two female lar gibbons.
The Manipur chief wildlife warden’s communication, a copy of which is available with TNIE, stated that five applications filed by Keshavanathan on the portal were under investigation and that they were unrelated to the species.
Lar gibbons are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix I and cannot be acquired without the requisite CITES import and export permissions, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) documentation and permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden of the state to which they are being imported from.
The Erode DFO has summoned Ranganathan’s manager, who told the officials that they had planned to purchase the gibbons from Keshavanathan. After inspecting the animals, they, however, found that they were not healthy and their documents were not in order. Following this, they returned the animals to the Erode trader, sources said.
Keshavanathan, meanwhile, has not appeared for inquiry. TNIE’s attempts to get a response from him proved futile.
In a separate development, an adult male serval cat at the Erode farm died on Monday. Preliminary observations indicated terminal intestinal blockage and severe constipation. Samples were collected for laboratory analysis.