The State Forest department recently seized a coat from the wife of Khanpur MlA Pranav Singh ‘Champion’ as part of its investigation into allegations of his wife Devyani Singh wearing a leopard pelt coat to the Assembly in January this year.
While the department officials stated that the coat will be sent to the Wildlife Institute of India or any other recognised institution for forensic test, the complainant PFA Uttarakhand has stressed that the coat seized by the department should first be compared with the photograph of the coat worn by Devyani Singh to ascertain whether the coat seized was the one worn by the MlA’s wife to the Assembly.
Dehradun divisional forest officer Sushant Patnaik informed that a coat had been seized from the MlA’s wife and would be sent to WII or any other recognised institute for forensic test. “We have not decided yet where we will send it, the process is underway. We will decide the course of action after the forensic test is conducted,” he said. Regarding whether the coat seized was the one worn by Devyani Singh to the Assembly, the DFO said that he had not seen the coat himself as it was seized by department officials.
Wildlife Crime Control Bureau additional director SB Negi, who had earlier written to the chief wildlife warden, seeking necessary action in the case, said that the action to be taken in the case is now under the purview of the chief wildlife warden’s office. Meanwhile, PFA Uttarakhand has written to Negi stating that it took more than a month for the department to seize the item so tampering with the evidence cannot be ruled out.
“A confession made on Facebook by the MlA regarding it being an inherited pelt is recorded and provided to the department along with a photograph of the woman dressed in the leopard pelt coat. In the given circumstances, please suggest the possible violations that may have occurred and under which sections. Please also suggest what should be the protocol for establishing if the evidence has not been tampered with- if the coat in the picture and videos is the same as the one confiscated. We would also appreciate if you could provide a list of laboratories where forensic examination of this kind may be done, besides the Wildlife Institute of India,” states the letter written to Negi by PFA Uttarakhand.