lansdowne forest division team has arrested three persons including two Christian priests for alleged possession of Sambar meat. The trio was produced before the ACJM court in Kotdwar on Wednesday from where they were sent to 14 day judicial custody in Pauri jail.
The team also seized two vehicles from the arrested persons. While one was arrested from Kotdwar the other two were arrested from Bijnor district in Uttar Pradesh. The Forest department has booked the three accused under different sections of Wildlife Protection Act. Police said two of the three accused were priests working in different churches located in Bijnor district while the third man was a smuggler dealing in wildlife contraband.
lansdowne sub divisional officer JS Rawat said acting on a tip-off 0the divisional forest officer, lansdowne, Nitish Mani Tripathi alerted the forest team at Kotdwar on Tuesday evening. After waiting for a few hours, the team saw a car going towards Kotdwar. The team stopped the vehicle and on searching, found two kgs of flesh under the driver’s seat.
The priest John Francis was found alone in the vehicle when it was searched. Francis was taken in custody and while being grilled, he disclosed that he had brought this flesh from Najibabad.
The team rushed to St Mary School, Najibabad and recovered about 10 kg of animal flesh from the kitchen. Subsequently, another priest linto Anthony was taken in custody and the car supposedly used in the transport of animal flesh was seized. linto said that he had purchased the flesh from one Jarnail Singh of Bhogpur in Bijnor district.
The team rushed to Bhogpur to arrest the third person, but he was absconding. leaving a few staff there, the rest of the team returned to Kotdwar, taking two priests along with them. The forest team arrested Jarnail Singh early on Wednesday morning when he returned to his residence.