A man possessing a tiger skin was nabbed by the Crime Branch sleuths while he was trying to commute through Kondagaon district of Bastar for selling it, police said here on Friday.
“The arrested man identified as leelambar (32) native of Rajakhariyar Odisha was nabbed from Kulhadgaon trisection under Farasgaon police station limits,” Superintendent of Police (SP) Kondagaon JS Watti said.
The estimated value of the skin is about Rs 25 lakh in the international market, he added.
We had inputs that a man carrying a Tiger skin was at Kulhadgaon and was trying to move out of the district. Immediately, a team of Crime Branch swung into action and nabbed him from spot who had wrapped the Tiger’s skin in a white sack, the SP added.
“The man during interrogation confessed of getting the Tiger’s skin from Sonpur village of Narayanpur district,” he said.
Meanwhile, leelambar has been booked under Section 9, 39, 44 and 51 of Indian Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
Notably, in past also, similar incidents have been reported in Kondagaon wherein skins/body parts of different wild animals were seized.