The Palamu Tiger Reserve officials have recovered the bodies of three deers that were killed on the night of October 22 at the rescue centre near the Nature Interpretation Centre in Betla.
Confirming the recovery DFO core Premjit Anand said the bodies with skin intact of the three deer were recovered in a shrubby area having a trench there. One among the three killed was a female deer.
Anand said these three deer were rescued from the house of a mighty family in Nagar under Garhwa district by the ranger there.
The recovery of three deer from a house led to the institution of the FIR against the owner of the house by the Garhwa district forest official and the three deers were just an evidence against this family and now with the killing of these three all the evidence against the said owner stands wiped out said the DFO Core.
The DFO Core explained the killing of the deers was neither for its meat nor for its skin. It was to obliterate any sign of evidence against the said owner from whom they were rescued and brought down to this tiger reserve. The killers were more than a dozen armed with Tangi and the three deer were killed with Tangi and then their bodies thrown in the bushy area. The killing took place at the rescue centre behind the NIC in Betla.
Asked if these deers were left to fend for itself in the wilderness of this tiger reserve the DFO Core said ' These 3 were under the protective care of two contractual wagers of the tiger reserve and these three were getting adjusted to their new environs when their lives were so cruelly and brutally finished'.
The tiger reserve officials have to press in sniffer dog of the CRPF to recover the bodies of the three deer and it was the sniffer dog of the CRPF that finally tracked down the bodies of the three deer which were abandoned in a trench and it was of the male deer, not far from it was found the body of another deer a female one and the third deer a calf was found not far from the mother deer.
The DFO Core insisted these three were pet animals and it is in the contravention of wildlife protection act which makes it an offence if someone pets/domesticates any wildlife be it deer or a peacock or any other wildlife.
Sources said the killing of the deers has further deepened this case of recovery of three deer from a big house in Nagar as it is election time and the political oppoenents are hell bent to raise this issue to its hilt.
The DFO reiterated it defies all logic as to why these three were only killed and in such a surreptitious manner. This is no poaching or hunting but a clear murder of the evidence.