The crime branch sleuths nabbed three persons on charges of illegally hauling panther skin. A case was registered against the accused Shamsher (31), Kuldeep Singh (31) and Roshan Kumar Funde (23) under Sections 50 and 52 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. The panther skin was reportedly 8-feet long.
Crime branch sleuths were on the routine patrolling in Somni area. Based on a tip off about three persons coming in a red-colored Maruti car carrying panther skin, a team of cops from Somni police station and crime branch cordoned off the area.
The Maruti-800 with registration number CG 07 G 1639 was recovered from the by-pass connecting Rasmara. The persons inside the vehicle were identified as Shamsher, Kuldeep Singh and Roshan. As they were interrogated, they admitted that they purchased the animal skin from a person in Gariaband and were taking it to Rajnandgaon.
The skin, when shown to the forest officials, was reported to be 15-days old while its market value was estimated to be around Rs5 lakh.