The Forest department nabbed four hunters from Ashta and seized four Black Buck bodies from them.
A four-member gang was arrested by the Forest department for hunting down Black Bucks at Ashta and Sehore on Sunday. The Forest officials seized a gun, vehicle and four Black Buck bodies.
Forest ranger KS Sengar, while talking to The Pioneer, said "we are interrogating the accused about the markets where they sell the Black Buck meat."
Out of the four Black Bucks, three were males. According to information, the hunters shot the animals about 20 km away from the tehsil headquarters.
Around 5 pm on Sunday, the Forest officials reached Nipania and Atralia on routine patrolling. They found a the hunters loading the carcasses of the animals into a vehicle.
Upon seeing the Forest officials, they tried to flee, but the Forest officials, including Ramnath Singh Nagar, deputy ranger PS Chauhan, Ghanshyam Pandey, Manish Shyam Narayan, Dariyav Singh and Ramesh Sahu nabbed them.
The hunters were brought to Forest circle office. They were identified as Nitin Johari, Riyaz Ali Hussain of Sehore, Saeed Khan of Bhopal and Nathan Singh Rajput of Vidisha.
The hunters shot down the Black Bucks in the forests of Nipania and Atralia by a telescopic gun. After shooting the antelopes, the hunters severed the heads of the animals. The gun used in the hunting is said to be of Riyaz Hussain, while the jeep used for the crime is said to be of Bhopal resident Saeed. On getting information, senior officers of the Forest department reached Ashta and started further investigation.