BENGALURU: In the past nine days, the Karnataka forest department, Nagarahole Tiger Reserve division, has nabbed all five poachers who shot down a five-year-old male tiger and mutilated it for its claws and canines. Late Thursday night, the sleuths nabbed two poachers. The five men, M M Santosh, Kander Shashi, Sharanu alias K P Uttappa, Vattangar Ranju and Kudenkodi K S Raj, are all residents of Netur village, Balele.
“Now that all are nabbed, their motive and remaining claws and canines have to be found,” said Mahesh Kumar, director, Nagarahole Tiger Reserve. The sleuths had recovered 13 claws and two canines, along with 1.5 kg of deer meat, two bikes, double barrel guns and poaching tools from the accused.
“Claws and canines were recovered from the four accused, while deer meet, gunpowder and ammunition was seized from the house of first accused, Santosh. We suspect he has hidden the remaining claws and two half canines, as it is not possible to have sold them in such a short time, especially when they were on the run,” said an official who is part of the investigating team.
The forest department is also sending samples of the tiger for DNA and toxicology testing to match the claws and canines with the tiger, and keep it handy in future when such items are recovered. The teams also want to ascertain the exact cause of death, as the accused claim that when they shot the tiger, it was dead and had started to stink. Forest officials state that this is the first time in the recent past that they have caught all the poachers, as such an exercise would usually take around a year, and the body parts would have changed hands many times.