Dehradun: A recent incident in which two residents of Kanjar basti, an area known to be a hotbed of poachers situated in Dehradun district near the Rajaji Tiger Reserve , were found to have been attacked by a wild cat has raised concerns among forest officials that the two might have been involved in poaching a tiger or leopard.According to director, Rajaji Sanatan Sonkar, one of the injured who was believed to have been accompanied by a known poacher who was caught with two tiger skins in the Amangarh forest range of UP two years ago have admitted to being attacked by a wild cat in the Bijnor forest range adjoining Rajaji where they had put up snares to trap the tiger. Meanwhile, the incident has started a game of 'not owning up' between forest officials of both sides, and neither side has got the matter registered with the police.Sonkar told TOI, "The word spread when one of the two residents of Kanjar Basti, Basant Nath alias Lakhora and Mehdi Nath had gone into the forest in Bijnor forest division on September 4 was attacked by a wild cat. One of the accused said, that they had installed snares but the wild cat managed to slip away and attacked Mehdi Nath. One of them said that the cat was spotted which means leopard and another said it was striped, which means tiger."Though some insiders said that the snares were put up inside the Rajaji , director thrashed such insinuation saying that he himself patrolled the area with the suspected alongwith additional principal chief conservator of forests Dhananjai Mohan and found no trace of poaching. Sonkar rued that the forest officials of Uttar Pardesh are not willing to own up the matter and hence not coming forward to file a case against the accused and get headway in investigation. He stressed that the tigers who do not know boundary can cross over from Rajaji to Bijnor's division and become susceptible in the unprotected environs there.Dhananjai Mohan said that investigation is still going on in the matter with the UP counterparts . He said that people of Kanjar community are spread out around the protected forests in the state where they sneak inside the forests to commit the heinous poaching. He stressed on the need to provide them livelihood opportunities.

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