Two tiger, one leapord skin seized in Pune

The Pune rural police seizes two tiger and a leopard skin and some arms and ammunition worth Rs 12.75 lakh, reports Yogesh Joshi.

The Pune rural police on Saturday seized two tiger and a leopard skin, six sophisticated pistols, two country made guns, 29 live cartridge, worth Rs 12.75 lakh during a night patrolling exercise in Ganesh Khindi ghat in Junnar taluka of the Pune district.

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The police also arrested five person - identified as Sandeep Kamble, Santosh Pandurang Vayal, Amol Ronge, Prakash Nirgudkar, Prakash Jadhav, all residents of Junnar. A team of crime branch officials led by PSI DR Ganore nabbed these accused when they were found discussing a plan under suspicious circumstances during the wee hours of Saturday.

According to the rural police, one of the accused even threatened the police with a gun and asked them to leave. Police however swung into the action and nabbed them. Police said that hunt is on for two of the accused, who successfully managed to flee under the cover of darkness.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered under the Indian wild life act against the accused at Narayan gaon police station. Rural SP Vishwas Nangre Patil said: "We suspect an organised criminal gang involved in the supply of weapons and tiger skins, in the district. The tiger skins seized are over 6 feet in size and we have got them certified from the wildlife authorities. We are interrogating the accused and are sure to recover more weapons from them. We suspect the accused have sold weapons to many big people in the district".

He said that it is not yet confirmed from where these tigers and leopard have been poached. "In the interrogation we hope to get all these details," he said.