MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently granted bail to four persons arrested by Tirunelveli forest officials for illegally possessing a Red Sand Boa, on the condition that they pay Rs 25,000 to the forest department to provide water to deers during summer.
The petitioners — Arunachala Moorthy, Muthupandian, Vincent and Lingasami — were arrested and remanded to judicial custody on February 28 for the above charges. However, they denied the allegations. Claiming that they were falsely implicated in the case, they sought bail. They also offered to jointly pay Rs 25,000 to the Tirunelveli forest department to provide water to deers during summer, without prejudice to their rights and contentions before the trial court.
Recording the submissions and also considering the period of incarceration, Justice M Dhandapani granted bail on the condition that they pay a non-refundable deposit of the aforementioned amount, and produce a receipt of the same before the trial court.
Red Sand Boa is a non-venomous snake species that is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.