BHUBANESWAR: The Crime Branch of State Police has traced the source that supplied sexual organs of monitor lizards which were passed off as root of a magical plant ‘hatha jodi’ used in tantric practices.
Chintan Joshi, who was arrested by a joint squad of the Crime Branch, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and Forest Department on Tuesday, spilled the beans during interrogation. Joshi is on three-day remand of the Crime Branch.
Joshi told the interrogators that he procured the monitor lizard hemipenis from Ahmedabad. There was a steady demand for ‘hatha jodi’ which were sold online. He used to get his quota basing on the demand.
Mistaking it as roots of the magical plant, most people used to buy body parts of the monitor lizards as good luck charms believing that wearing these brought good health, prosperity and mental peace. Bizarre as it may sound, sources said the buyers used to offer these in temples too.
This despite the fact there was a campaign on online blogs on spiritualism that vermilion smeared monitor lizards body parts are being sold as ‘hatha jodi’. Interestingly though, there is hardly any scientific literature available for the so-called magical plant root which is sold online, including on international merchandise sites.
Special DG, Crime Branch Bijay Kumar Sharma said the CB has ascertained the details of the suppliers and is trying to trace the racket working behind it.
Going by sources, similar articles are also being found from western districts of the State. The roots of such a racket has spread across many States. Last year, the Forest Department of Telangana had sent a similar sample to CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology to ascertain the identity. The DNA result pointed it to be monitor lizard.
