Man nabbed for keeping protected turtles at shop

The Jamalpur police arrested a man for possessing three protected turtles. Two of them were roofed turtles while the third one belongs to another species. The suspect had kept the reptiles at his pizza shop.

He was identified as Inderjit Singh of Mundian Kalan.

The complainant, Narinder Singh, Forest Range Officer, Wild Range, Neelon, in a statement to the police stated that information was received that the shopkeeper had illegally kept three turtles at his shop, which is forbidden as per the norms. After verifying information, he told the police and a raid was conducted at the shop of the suspect, which led to the recovery of the turtles.

SHO, Jamalpur police station, inspector Dalvir Singh, said on the complaint of the forest official, the police registered an FIR under the Wildlife Protection Act. The rescued turtles had been handed over to the Wildlife Department for proper care. It will remain in the department’s custody till further legal proceedings are completed.

The SHO said the suspect runs a pizza shop in Mundian Kalan and he had kept the turtles at his outlet. The preliminary investigation of the police had found that he was not into illegal trade of protected turtles. Still, further probe was on in the case.

In March, on the complaint of Wildlife Department officials, the police had arrested a man in Jamalpur here for smuggling banned birds. Two rare Alexandrine parakeets were recovered from the suspect. The department got registered a case against the man under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act and initiated further investigation. He was later handed over to the police. The man was identified as Vishal Grewal, a resident of Lahri Nagar, Mundian Kalan, Ludhiana. A case was registered under the Wildlife Protection Act against him.