New Delhi: Following the seizure of tiger skin and bones in Assam and the arrest of five offenders in Guwahati on June 28, 2023, subsequent investigations have led to the arrest of one Mishram Jakhad whose Identity Card revealed he worked as a field officer of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI). It was found that Jakhad, an 81-year-old resident of the Dwarka locality of Delhi, controlled and dictated the tiger poaching and illegal trade of tiger body parts. Investigations suggested he not only sponsored the illegal tiger trade syndicate but also exploited “huge” money from the poachers, smugglers and blackmailed them. He was arrested along with Rs. 14.80 lakh cash suspected to be connected to illegal trade in tiger parts. He has confessed that he had worked in the wildlife wing of the forest department of the NCT Delhi Government.
Offering details, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), an apex body constituted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to combat the organised wildlife crime and illegal wildlife trade, said after the seizure of tiger skin and bones in Assam and subsequent arrests of the poachers, the case was transferred by the Assam forest department to WCCB for investigation as the case showed involvement of multiple states. The WCCB constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the Guwahati tiger skin and bone seizure case. The preliminary interrogation of the offenders showed that the tiger body parts seized belonged to the Gadchiroli area in Maharashtra. These initial interrogation findings were shared by the WCCB with the Maharashtra forest department officials. Based on WCCB inputs 10 members of a hunting gang belonging to the Bawariya community were arrested from the Gadchiroli area. Leg-hold traps and tiger body parts were also recovered from them. One of the offenders wanted in the Guwahati seizure case was also arrested from the Gadchiroli area.
Based on the interrogation of the offender arrested in Guwahati and Gadchiroli, further investigation was taken up leading to the arrest of Jakhad.
The WCCB said that based on the credible inputs, it had issued a red alert on July 29, 2023, to all tiger reserves and tiger-bearing areas to intensify the patrolling and sanitise these areas from hunting gangs and it was on July 31, 2023, when the WCCB SIT officials along with the Gadchiroli team raided the premises of Jakhad.
A case has been registered under sections 9, 39, 48, 49A, 50, 51, and 52 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. In response to a transit remand, filed to take him to Gadchiroli for further interrogation with his associates, the court has granted him a transit bail, considering his age (81yrs) but directed the accused to appear before the court and the Investigation Officer in such date and time he is asked. “It is suspected that the offender Mishram Jakhad is well connected to the tiger poachers and smuggling syndicates,” the MoEF&CC stated today. It claimed that along with Maharashtra forest officials, the WCCB SIT is “probing deeply” into the tiger poaching and illegal trade network under the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) will also be roped in for the investigation of this predicate offence under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, it added.
– global bihari bureau
