Two arrested for selling animal genitalia over superstitious beliefs

Two men were arrested from Rewari on Tuesday for allegedly selling genitals of male monitor lizards and jackals over the last four months through social media, in collaboration with a few astrologers in Delhi-NCR, to people with superstitious beliefs, the police said. The monitor lizard is a protected species under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.

Two men were arrested from Rewari on Tuesday for allegedly selling genitals of male monitor lizards and jackals over the last four months through social media, in collaboration with a few astrologers in Delhi-NCR, to people with superstitious beliefs, the police said. The monitor lizard is a protected species under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.

A team of the police and wildlife officials made a joint bust. (Sourced)

A joint team of police and Gurugram and Rewari wildlife officials conducted a raid, posing as customers, and arrested them, after the Rewari officials were tipped off about the trades.

Devender Kumar, a wildlife inspector from Rewari, approached the suspects posing as a customer and finalised a deal for buying the animal parts near Rewari railway station and were arrested during the same.

Officials said they operated through mobile phones and social media and had no office or shop to run their operations.

MS Malik, chief conservator of forests (wildlife), Gurugram, said that a team of the Haryana forest department, Haryana Police, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, and Wildlife Trust of India conducted a raid around 4pm on Tuesday and arrested them near the Rewari railway station,

“The wildlife crime control  bureau was tracking the men for the past several weeks and shared tip-offs with us based on which a raid was conducted. We are suspecting that there are more people involved in this illegal trade,” said Malik.

Malik said the suspects used to sell these genitals between ₹500 and ₹2,000 per piece. “They used to buy these items from dealers in Rajasthan,” he said.

The suspects were sent to judicial remand on Saturday, after being produced before the district and sessions court said, officials. A case under sections 9, 39, 44, 49, 50, 51, and 55 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 was registered at Rewari on Tuesday.

The suspects were also produced before the environment court Faridabad on Wednesday and sent to 14-day judicial custody. Officials said that the sale, purchase or possession of the banned wildlife items is a punishable offence, for which one can face a prison term of three to seven years, along with a fine of ₹10,000, as per the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.