Acting on an intelligence tipoff about snake venom trade, a combined team of Sadar and Town Ranges of the Sambalpur Forest Division on Tuesday arrested one Ramachandra Rana from Karanjula village of the Panchput forest section.
“During the house search, we found six snakes including three cobras and four chameleons from him. We also found a camera and a phone from his possession which is completely illegal under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972,” informed, Sambalpur ACF Manu Ashok Bhat. A case under the Act has been registered against Rana and he would be forwarded to court on Wednesday, Bhat said.
It was also further learnt that Rana runs a YouTube channel displaying wildlife captures, including snakes, from various areas without permission from the Forest Department. The channel violates the IT Act 2000 and it has been reported to YouTube for deletion and appropriate action at their end, Bhat added.
The department requested the public to inform such incidents to the Sambalpur Control Room (Snake) on 8763418929, for which there would be provision for rewards also.