Wildlife officer's arrest unmasks sambar poachers in Garhshankar

A wildlife officer’s arrest two months ago has uncovered a network of poachers active in the sale of meat of sambars in the forests of Hoshiarpur. Widlife Range officials have arrested one of the three poachers involved in the sambar meat trade.

On February 7, a team of the Garhshankar Wildlife Range raided Binewal village, where Karnail Singh, the owner of Rana Chicken Corner, was arrested with two-and-a-half kg of sambar meat. He has been booked under Sections 9, 39, 48, 50 and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act. An inquiry has also been marked into the case. On January 5, wildlife officials identified a father-son duo involved in the killing of sambars and the sale of their meat in the area.

Nobody will be spared

Special raids are being conducted and poachers are being tracked. Nobody involved in the killing of sambars or sale of their meat will be spared. Karnail Singh was a trader. We are probing into where he was getting the meat from. -- Kulraj Singh, Divisional Forest Officer

Both the cases were uncovered within months of the arrest of Garhshankar Wildlife Range Officer Rajpal by the Vigilance Bureau. He was arrested for demanding money for issuing hunting permits. He was subsequently suspended by the Chief Wildlife Warden.

The arrest on February 7 happened after the Forest Department deputed a decoy meat buyer who tracked Karnail Singh. The sambar meat was being sold for Rs 250 a kg (much cheaper than mutton, which costs Rs 700-880 per kg). During the raid, sambar meat was found stored in a freezer at the shop. A butcher’s block and three knives were also recovered.

On January 5, after a tip-off, forest officials raided a farm at Bichohi village at Mahalpur in Garhshankar. An abandoned bike led the officials to a father-son duo -- Mandeep Singh and Sohan Singh -- residents of Sarangwal in Hoshiarpur. They were found involved in poaching (through electric wires installed on fields). Sambar paws, skin and meat were recovered in subsequent raids at their establishments.They are absconding.

Divisional Forest Officer Kulraj Singh said: “Special raids are being conducted and poachers are being tracked. Nobody involved in the killing of sambars or sale of their meat will be spared. Karnail Singh was a trader. We are probing into where he was getting the meat from. Sambars (Rusa unicolor) are listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act and their poaching and sale are non-bailable offences. Stern action is being initiated against the culprits. Karnail has been remanded to judicial custody until February 20. The bail of other accused was also rejected recently.”