Two rhino poachers, who were arrested from Tamil Nadu recently have said that a Minister of the former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government was involved in poaching of one-horned rhinos.
Assam Forest Minister Pramila Rani Brahma said this on Wednesday while adding that the two poachers have revealed this to her when she spoke after they were brought to the State from Tamil Nadu in police custody. Brahma, however, refused to divulge the name of the former Minister and said that she has asked the police and forest department official to interrogate the duo properly for the details.
The two poachers were involved in killing of two rhinos—a female rhino and a calf at Bagori forest range of Kaziranga national park on August 3 and took away the horn. Both had left the State and went to Tamil Nadu on August 18 to evade arrest. The Tamil Nadu police handed them over to Assam police and Assam forest department officials and accordingly brought to Guwahati on Tuesday.
“I asked them how can they be so cruel to kill the calf along with the female rhinoIJ Then they told me that a former Minister in Tarun Gogoi Government had asked them to kill the animals for horn. However, it would not be appropriate for me to reveal the name of the Minister now. But I have asked the investigation team to probe interrogate properly to get all the details,” said Brahma on Wednesday.
She said that the Government is going to take all steps to bring the culprits behind the poaching of rhinos and that there would not be any compromise on the issue of protection of one-horned rhinos.
“They (the poachers) also told me that they had a debt of Rs 30,000 from someone close to the Minister. As they were unable to repay the debt, the Minister asked them to kill rhinos and fetch the horn to repay their debt. That is the reason they killed the rhino,” the Forest Minister said. According to the Minister, the accused former Minister was not a part of the last Government led by former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi but a Minister in the previous Government.
It may be mentioned here that the protection of one-horned rhinos was one of the major pre-poll promises of the BJP that came to power in Assam in April this year. The Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal led Government in Assam had taken up several steps to protect the rhinos as well to stop illegal trade of rhino horns and other wildlife parts.
The forest department, the Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) and the police had also intensified its operation against the poachers and over 60 poachers have been arrested in the last three months from different areas of the State.