Panchinath who had been arrested on the charge of poaching from Chillawali range of Rajaji National Park in May last year was arrested again on Monday on charge of fishing in the conserved area of the park. Earlier, he had been arrested on the charge of hiding the remains of two tigers and three leopards in pits inside the park area. The accused was on bail when he was arrested again. Notably, during interrogation, he revealed some more information regarding the poaching, claimed the foresters.
The deputy director Rajaji National Park Himanshu Kumar said that he had received information of some people roaming stealthily in the Park premises. “Acting on the information, we formed four teams with the forest ranger Sharanpal included in it. At around 1.30 am on Saturday, some people were found fishing in a river.
While three of the accused ran away, one was caught with the fishing net, fishes and some other things. The accused was identified as Panchinath, resident of Sapera Basti. He was arrested and during interrogation, he gave some valuable information to the police regarding poaching of leopards,” he added.
Mentionworthy, leopard hide, flesh and bones had been recovered from four different places in Dudhia beat of Haridwar division of Rajaji National Park earlier. Panchinath had surrendered himself before the court in May 2018, the forest officers added.