Tiger skin, Rs 2 crore in cash seized from Assam forest official’s house

Assam Police have recovered tiger skin, deer skin, ivory, cash to the tune of Rs 2 crore and gold jewellery weighing about 1kg from the residence of a divisional forest officer who was caught accepting bribes from truck owners.

Assam Police have recovered tiger skin, deer skin, ivory, Rs 2 crore in cash and about 1kg of gold jewellery from the residence of a divisional forest officer who was caught accepting bribes from truck owners.

District forest officer Mahat Chandra Talukdar is questioned by media after being arrested by the anti-corruption branch of police in Assam.(HT Photo)

Mahat Chandra Talukdar, the divisional forest officer in northern Assam’s Dhemaji, was arrested on Tuesday and taken to Guwahati, where his house at Geetanagar area was raided. Police have yet to open two more lockers belonging to Talukdar.

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A tiger skin seized from the official’s house. (HT Photo)

Many officials of the Assam forest department faced corruption charges in the third term of the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress government, which was ousted by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recently held elections.

The new government took a tough stand on graft charges in the forest department, with state minister Pramila Rani Brahma promising action against errant officials.

“The raid has been carried out by the anti-corruption wing of Assam Police and till now over Rs 2 crore cash has been recovered,” an official said.

It was not immediately clear how Talukdar acquired the animal skins and ivory.