Wearing a coat apparently made from leopard pelt to the Vidhan Sabha might prove costly to Devyani Singh, wife of Khanpur MlA Pranav Singh ‘Champion’. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau recently sent a letter to the chief wildlife warden with a visual of the Facebook post in which the MlA claimed that the coat was made from the pelt of a leopard killed by his family member.
The WCCB has sought requisite action from the CWW while People For Animals, Uttarakhand has demanded that a case be filed against the MlA and his wife under the Wildlife Protection Act. It will be recalled that Devyani Singh had visited the Vidhan Sabha in session during January this year wearing a coat made from leopard pelt.
At that time she had claimed that it was a fake but Facebook posts by her husband along with her pics in this very jacket showed that it was made from the pelt of a leopard killed by member of the MlA’s family.
The visual of the Facebook page and other information was submitted to the WCCB by PFA Uttarakhand member secretary Gauri Maulekhi, responding to which the WCCB additional director SB Negi wrote to the CWW for his information seeking requisite action.
Maulekhi has also written to the CWW SS Sharma stating that information procured from his office through RTI Act reveals that the MlA or his wife have not declared any animal pelt or wildlife commodity under the Wildlife Protection Act nor have they procured the ownership certificate for any such commodity.
“On top of this, wearing the leopard pelt coat in a public place is a violation of the Act and legal action should be initiated against the MlA and his wife,” she stressed.