The Interpol puts the trade in illegal wildlife products at $12 billion a year.

Home to half of the world's tigers, India is keeping the supply line going, according to latest findings.

So, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh vent his ire over the gradual decline of wild cats, he was, in fact, echoing the sentiments of a whole nation, shocked to learn the damning Ranthambore and Sariska stories which sent the entire cabinet and officials in a tizzy.

With the arrest of Sansar Chand, the cops may "only appear" to have solved one of the most mysterious and shocking cases.

For, the face of Indian poaching and alleged mastermind behind north India's poaching network may be in jail, the nefarious practice of tiger-poaching is still running smoothly across the length and breadth of India.

Official figures put the rapidly dwindling tigers at 3000, in numbers, at present. But, "India will be blessed if it can show even 2000," claims Belinda Wright, winner of Carl Zeiss Wildlife Conservation Award 2005 and founder and executive director of Wildlife Protection Society of India.

The conservationists mince no words while castigating the Sariska, Panna and Ranthambore tiger reserves' officials. Their complicity is largely responsible for killing and trafficking of 'the most divine animal' to 'mostly China' through Nepalese routes.

While the task force headed by Sunita Narayan of CSE may have submiited its report to the PM, the government will have to dig deep to break poachers' nexus with the powere that be if at all we wish to see the existing wild cats alive.