BARIPADA: The Special Task Force (STF) of the state’s Crime Branch along with forest officials of Baripada division, arrested another accused here on Friday, days after three persons were apprehended for their alleged involvement in poaching and procuring the hide of a Royal Bengal Tiger.
He was identified as Purna Chandra Majhi alias Chagulu of Sasangabeda village within Udala police limits. According to sources, Majhi along with two others, Fagu Prasad Hansdah and Mangal Murmu had procured the tiger’s hide from one Dev Kumar Patra of Udala’s Sriramchandrapur village. After the matter came to light, the teams launched an investigation and during a joint raid seized the hide.
While Patra was arrested on December 15, Hansdah and Murmu were nabbed soon after. However, Majhi had fled the area. “On the run ever since the tiger hide was seized, Majhi was arrested on the day following a joint raid by the STF and forest officials of Baripada,” said divisional forest officer (DFO) Santosh Joshi.
A case under sections 379, 411, 120(B) of the IPC, 25/27 of the Arms Act and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 was registered against the accused and further investigation is underway, he added.