AT LEAST 12 tigers and five leopards have been killed allegedly by local villagers over the last 18 months at the Melghat forest area. Advertising The racket was accidentally busted when a team of Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR) vigilance staff found a few men stealing white musali from the core area of MTR on August 8. “Our men tried to catch them but they managed to flee leaving behind a bag that contained skins of porcupine and civet cat. We later caught hold of a man, Sanu Darshinge, from Girguti village, who confessed to have killed a sambhar. He also named 35 other villagers involved in the poaching,” said MTR Field Director Srinivas Reddy. “When our team went to the village, they were pelted with stones… three of our staffers were injured. Later, we got an FIR filed with the police, which arrested three persons — Sanju, Patya and Nanakram. They have also confessed to have killed tigers and leopards in the territorial forest in east Melghat division outside the tiger reserve,” he added. Advertising While Reddy put the tigers poached number at three and leopard at two, a source said: “The accused say they have killed 12 tigers and five leopards over about 18 months. For this, they have used various means, like poisoning cattle kills and water bodies, shooting and also using Katni traps.” “The accused have told interrogators that only one tiger was killed inside MTR. The rest were killed in east Melghat territorial division,” the source added. The poachers have also confessed to have used countrymade rifles (bharmars) to kill four tigers, said sources. “Also, we have arrested two persons from Katkum village, as they allegedly bought tiger and leopard parts from the poachers,” said Divisional Forest Officer Vishal Mali, who is investigating the matter. The investigators have recovered some parts of the tiger — killed inside MTR — from a spot where the poachers had led them. Pravin Chouhan, Chief Conservator of Forest (Territorial) of Amravati, however, said the matter is still under investigation and only spot verification and panchanama will establish where exactly the poaching had taken place. According to latest estimates, Melghat has 48 adult tigers and 22 cubs. The incident comes ahead of the four-yearly tiger census results scheduled to be announced shortly. The forest department had been claiming that it had successfully eliminated organised poaching by Katni gangs from Madhya Pradesh since 2013, when poaching of over 20 tigers — between October 2012 and April 2013 — had come to fore in Vidarbha.

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