Days after encroachments were cleared from almost 90 per cent area of Pava Reserve Forest in Assam's Lakhimpur district, a one-horned rhino was spotted in the evicted site, bringing cheers to wildlife protectors, officials said on Wednesday.
According to Lakhimpur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ashok Kumar Dev Choudhury, the adult rhino was seen roaming on Tuesday in the villages that were cleared of encroachment from the Reserve Forest.
"Though villagers have claimed to have seen three rhinos, we have noticed one. Public are disturbing the rhinos, who attacked and injured three persons yesterday," the DFO told PTI.
Choudhury said that the rhino most likely came out from Kaziranga National Park and reached Pava.
"If the public cooperates with us, we will send it back to Kaziranga again," he added.
Some experts, however, opined that this lone rhino probably lost its path and strayed into the village lands, now freed from encroachment, inside Pava.
The administration had started an eviction drive to clear encroachment on January 10, which continued for several days, to evict around 500 "illegal settler" families.
Expressing happiness over spotting the rhino inside Pava Reserve Forest, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the animals were seen in the land freed from encroachment just a few days ago.
PNS n Lucknow
In a heartbreaking incident, a woman who murdered her two-month-old daughter due to poverty in Jhansi was arrested, police said on Wednesday.
The infant’s body was found in a drain behind the house 28 hours later by the Poonch police probing the incident.
The incident came to light when the father of the infant sought the police help to trace his missing daughter. The woman kept giving contradicting accounts on her whereabouts at the time of crime. She broke down later during interrogation and admitted to the crime citing her poverty.
Senior Superintendent of Police Rajesh S said 112 (emergency helpline) police received information on Sunday that a two-month-old baby was missing from a house in Nai Basti under the jurisdiction of Poonch police station. "Acting on the complaint, the police immediately reached the spot and launched a search operation," he said.
About 28 hours later, on Monday, the infant's body was found in a drain behind the house, after which the police started questioning the family members, including the mother. Investigations revealed that the woman and the infant were alone at the house when the incident occurred.
The woman said she had gone out for some time on Sunday and she found the baby missing from the residence. She claimed that it could have been the handiwork of cats from the thick forest adjoining her backyard. However, her stories fell flat after the lifeless corpse of the infant was fished out of the drain.