NEW DELHI: The Director of National Zoological Park in Delhi, Renu Singh, has received a transfer order from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The order was received on Thursday, the day a man jumped inside a lion’s enclosure at the zoo.
The letter dated October 17, a copy of which has been seen by this reporter, states that “it has been decided with approval of competent authority that Renu Singh, IFS (UP, 1997), Director National Zoological Park, New Delhi will be laterally shifted in M/o Environment, Forest and Climate Change as Depurty Inspector General of Forests (DIGF).”
The notice further read that Suneesh Buxy will hold additional charge as the director of the zoo until a regular incumbent is appointed. When asked about any link between Thursday’s incident and the transfer order, Singh said it was a routine transfer.
On Thursday, Rehan Khan, a 21-year-old man from Bihar, went inside the enclosure of a 10-year-old lion, but was lucky as the zoo staff saved him by tranquillising the lion before it could harm him. In a video that went viral, Rehan is seen sitting facing the lion for some time. Activists have raised questions over lapses in security by the management. In 2014, a man named Maqsood was killed by a tiger in the zoo.