Leopard’s hide & paws, ghoral’s horns seized

A rapid response team of the Paonta Sahib forest division in Sirmaur district recovered a leopard’s hide and a cache of animal parts highly valued in the illegal market from the house of Akhtar Ali, a resident of Ghuttanpur village in the Majra forest range, on Wednesday morning. Other items recovered included whiskers, three pairs of horns of ghoral, two pairs of antlers of barking deer and paws of a leopard, whose nails had been removed. These items had been concealed in the roof of the house.

Besides, the raiding team also recovered three empty cartridges and a sharp-edged weapon used to chop flesh along with other such items, hinting at organised illicit trade of wildlife parts.

The team, led by Assistant Conservator of Forests, Paonta Sahib, Aditya Sharma, comprised Range Forest Officers Surendar Sharma and Sachin Sharma, besides field functionaries.

Akhtar Ali and Saddam Hussain were arrested in the case for the violation of Sections 39, 40(2), 49C(7) punishable under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The offence involved the trading of Schedule-1 animal species that enjoys maximum protection under the Act, said Sharma.