A Delhi court has granted permission to the department of forest and wildlife, Uttar Pradesh (UP) to formally arrest and interrogate national-level Shooter Prashant Vishnoi (39), son of a retired Colonel, who was arrested by the DRI for running a poaching and illegal arms racket and is currently in Tihar Jail.
The forest department will arrest the accused for offences committed under section 9, 44, 49B, 50 and 51 of Wildlife Protection Act. The Department of Forest and Wildlife, UP moved the application for the arrest of Vishnoi before the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass.
“The accused is required in a case of Meerut Range for offence under various section of the Wildlife Protection Act. Accordingly, the concerned jail Superintendent of Tihar Jail is directed to permit the assistant conservator of forests, department of forests and wildlife, Meerut Sanjeev Kumar on June 6 between 10 am to 4 pm to interrogate accused Prashant Vishnoi and if need arises, to permit him to arrest the accused. The concerned jail superintendent is directed to produce the accused before the court of learned ACJM-4, Meerut,” said CMM Sumit Dass in the order.
Acting on specific information, the officers of Forest and wildlife Department, UP along with Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Delhi zonal unit, conducted search at the residence of Prashant Vishnoi, no 364 Civil lines, opposite Mahila Thana, Meerut.
“As a result of the search, leopard Skin, pelvic, ribs, black buck skin, Sambar deer skull with two antlers in the form of a trophy, black buck skull with horns, black buck skull with neck and horns in the form of trophy, three antlers of Samber Deer, seven skulls of deer with horns, 47 packets of frozen meat weighing 117.3 kgs, a knife whose handle is made of animal part, and teeth of wild animals were recovered,” read the application.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had arrested Vishnoi, a key accused in a multi-crore gun-running and wildlife smuggling case, on Friday.
The arrest came a month after raids were conducted at Vishnoi’s residence in Meerut resulted in the recovery of about Rs 1 crore in cash besides, over a hundred illegally imported firearms, 117 kg of nilgai meat, horns and skins of leopards and blackbucks.
Bishnoi is alleged to be the kingpin of a global syndicate involved in smuggling of fire arms and wildlife. He appeared before the DRI officials on Thursday in response to a summon issued against him. Following interrogation, Bishnoi was arrested, official sources said on Friday.
During the interrogation, he was confronted with evidence gathered during the probe. Vishnoi accepted to be the part of the global smuggling racket, the sources claimed.
Three accused, including Slovenian national Boris Sobotic Mikolic were already arrested for their alleged involvement in the case. The trio were intercepted after their arrival at the Delhi airport by a Turkish Airlines flight from Slovenia’s capital ljubljana via Istanbul on April 29.
They were carrying 25 illegally imported lethal weapons and other items worth about Rs 4.5 crore with them. They had incorrectly declared the quantity and value of the arms and ammunition to the customs officials and tried to get these items cleared by misusing the scheme meant for renowned shooters.