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Man arrested with leopard skins, teeth, claws in Uttarakhand
One person has been arrested while another is on the run.
A man was arrested on charges of smuggling six leopard skins, 43 claws and 24 teeth in Sera town of Pithoragarh district by the Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) on Tuesday.
"We had received a tip-off that two men were planning to smuggle the leopard skins and its nails and teeth. We have constituted a team to catch smugglers.
“As the smugglers were in the Sera area of Pithoragarh district, STF conducted an operation in Sera on Monday late night after 1 am and arrested a person during this operation while another person fled from the spot,” said Mahendra Pal Singh, in-charge, STF Kumaon unit.
"We recovered six leopard hides along with 43 nails and 24 teeth and seized the vehicle in which he was traveling," the officer added.
The accused, Singh said, has been identified as Rahul Singh Dasila, a 26-year-old resident of Shera village in Berinag block of Pithoragarh district.
The absconding accused has been identified as Sonu Dhobhal, 25-year-old resident of Shera village in Pithoragarh, Singh said
"It was revealed in preliminary investigation that they killed the leopards with electric shock and wanted to sell the skin in Nepal," he said.
A case under various sections of the Wildlife [Protection] Act 1972 has been registered.
The two accused had been arrested in 2019 for allegedly smuggling and selling leopard skin, said Singh.
Vinay Bhargava, divisional forest officer, Pithoragarh, said the case will now be transferred to the forest department.
