MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court, in the order passed on February 10 transferring the investigation into elephant poaching cases in Tamil Nadu to CBI, brought to light the names of various big shots who are involved in the racket.
A division bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and S Ananthi on Friday threw light on certain portions of the report that was filed by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Chennai, to the court in 2019 while hearing a batch of Public Interest Litigations (PIL) filed in connection with elephant poaching and electrocution.
A portion that included a statement given by one of the main accused and notorious ivory dealer - Eagle Rajan - mentioned that the ivories were sold to various big shots across the country for making statues at their respective houses. The judges pointed out that a copy of Rajan’s personal diary, having addresses and mobile numbers of his customers, was also enclosed in the report.
They observed, “We are not only dealing with a mere case of poaching, but also a demand created by customers, whose names would double only after investigation. The investigation further reveals the details of the transactions.” “The greed of the man could well be seen from the transactions that happened. It is not a mere case of poaching for livelihood, but a trading on wildlife driven by the sadistic pleasure of man,” they remarked.
The judges also extracted a chart furnished by WCCB containing names of poachers, middlemen and kingpins of the racket. Though the chart contains names of numerous persons hailing from different places and playing different roles in the racket, only those working at the bottom level have been arrested while the middlemen and kingpins are left untouched, they pointed out.