Chhattisgarh’s forest department has written a letter to the state home department, recommending a central agency probe into a tiger poaching case, citing a preliminary investigation that showed suspected interstate links and the possibility of a wider wildlife-trafficking network operating beyond Chhattisgarh. The letter dated July 27, a copy of which HT has seen, said two of the arrested accused are associated with the intelligence wing of Maharashtra Police in Gadchiroli.
The probe into the tiger poaching began after three tiger skins were seized and nine people were arrested along Chhattisgarh’s border with Maharashtra. On June 29, two tiger skins, 13 whiskers, and a motorcycle registered in Maharashtra were recovered from two people, Biyeri Gedam and Baburao Madavi, travelling from Gadchiroli in Maharashtra to Chhattisgarh.
Gedam identified himself to his interrogators as a constable with the Maharashtra Police’s Special Branch, which handles local intelligence, in Gadchiroli. Madavi described himself as a police informer in Gadchiroli. Both were produced before a court on June 30 and sent to jail.
Investigators carried out searches near the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border in Bijapur district’s Netiwada based on the interrogation of Gedam and Madavi and recovered hunting traps, knives, 12 claws, four canine teeth, and other articles allegedly used in hunting.
On July 5, a third tiger skin was recovered along the Indravati River in Bijapur, and seven more accused were arrested and produced before a court on July 6.
{{/usCountry}}On July 5, a third tiger skin was recovered along the Indravati River in Bijapur, and seven more accused were arrested and produced before a court on July 6.
{{/usCountry}}The Chhattisgarh forest department letter noted that four of the nine arrested persons are from Maharashtra, including two associated with the Maharashtra Police’s intelligence cell in Gadchiroli. It added that the suspected hunting syndicate had links in both Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra and that criminals may have been using remote areas along the Indravati River for national and international wildlife trafficking.
The department said the alleged links of key accused with the police intelligence apparatus of another state had increased the sensitivity of the case. It cited the area’s location along an interstate border, national security considerations and the global importance of wildlife conservation as reasons for seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe.
The department said the investigation may require arrests and legal action in other parts of the country to expose the wider network allegedly involved in the offences.
The letter said the principal chief conservator of forests, Chhattisgarh Forest Force, and the chief wildlife warden’s recommendation for a CBI probe has administrative approval. It requested the state home department to write at the earliest for the CBI to take up the investigation and inform it of the action taken.
The Maharashtra Police suspended Gedam, a recipient of the prestigious President’s Police Medal for Gallantry in 2021 for his outstanding service in the Maoist-affected Gadchiroli, and Madavi following their arrest.
Gadchiroli police superintendent M Ramesh said they are being interrogated. “Prima facie evidence indicates their involvement was confined to tiger poaching in Chhattisgarh’s Indravati Tiger Reserve. So far, there is no evidence linking them to poaching incidents in Gadchiroli or elsewhere in Maharashtra,” Ramesh said.
Inspector general (Nagpur Range) Sandip Patil called Gedam’s involvement deeply concerning. “The department maintains a zero-tolerance policy toward such crimes, and we are initiating proceedings to dismiss them from service.”
The arrests came amid heightened concerns over conservation. Maharashtra reported 41 tiger deaths in 2025. A majority of them were attributed to natural causes and territorial conflict. Some of the deaths are under investigation for suspected poaching.