CBI Inquiry over tigers; poaching gang confesses

Thursday, March 17, 2005 (New Delhi):

Alarmed by the disappearance of tigers in wildlife parks Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ordered a CBI inquiry.

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At the first meeting of the National Wildlife Board at the Prime Minister's residence, Manmohan Sigh said he's concerned about what's happening to the country's wildlife reserves and set up a task force to look at the status of tigers.

The proposed task force will include forest officials, representatives of civil society and wild life experts.

Status report sought

The Task Force will be asked to give a report on the current status of Project Tiger and the status of tigers in wild life parks. The Prime Minister also accepted the Board's suggestion to establish a National Wild life Crime Prevention and Control Bureau. Dr Manmohan Singh also informed the Board that the government will ban any gift of animals by the head of state or government to other heads of state or governments or foreign zoos. The Board also gave its approval to allow access into protected forest areas for professional researchers for purposes of carrying out scientific research.

Empowered committee to supervise tiger census

The empowered committee on forest and wild life management will supervise the tiger census operations in the Sariska and Ranthambhore reserves. Official sources said the help of voluntary bodies and wild life experts would also be taken in the census to be coordinated by Indian Wildlife Institute Dehradun. The census will be keenly watched this year due to reports of vanishing of all tigers in Sariska and falling of their number in Ranthambhore, with wildlife activists claiming that the cats have fallen prey to poachers. The counting would be held in Ranthambhore Tiger Project area first from May one to 16 followed by Sariska from May 16 to 31, reversing the previous schedule. The census would be conducted in both the reserves using pug mark, camera trap and transact methods. On May 22 and 23 wild animals would be counted by water hole monitoring method for 24 hours in full moon night in both the reserves. Both the reserves would be completely closed to tourists during the census operations, sources said.

(PTI)

Trapped in Sariska, poachers confess: We killed 10 tigers

March 17: A gang of suspected poachers have confessed to killing at least 10 tigers in Sariska during 2002-2004. Five of these tigers, say Forest Ministry sources, were killed during the monsoon of 2004 alone. While one tiger was shot dead using buffalo bait, the rest were trapped with metal traps before being killed. Three members of the gang, who are currently in custody, have also confessed to killing leopards in the Reserve. Sources say the number of hunts were too many for the gang to recall in detail.

These suspected poachers were arrested during intensive raids by forest officials and police conducted after The Sunday Express reported on the missing tigers on January 23. They were subsequently questioned by police, top forest officials and even Rajasthan Forest Minister Laxmi Narayan Dave.

Though police refused to part with any information at this point of investigation, sources in the Ministry say the interrogation team has also obtained documentary evidence to support the confession. ''We have recorded these confessions. But we are after a few key members of the gang who are still on the run. Once we get them, we will be able to build the case,'' says R P Kapoor, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Rajasthan.

''This is a good lead for the CBI team to take up the investigation and bust the entire network,'' say Ministry sources. It's learnt that the CBI has formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the Sariska tiger crisis-following a PMO recommendation-with Qamar Qureshi of the Wildlife Institute of India and Sanjeev Chhadha of the Ministry of Environment and Forest among the members. Meanwhile, the Empowered Committee for Forests and Wildlife set up by the Rajasthan government on February 27 has declared a ''red alert and emergency'' in the Ranthambhore Reserve, after affirming that the Sariska tigers have been ''completely wiped out by poachers''.

Says V P Singh, BJP MP from Bhilwara and chairman of the committee: ''After our site visits to Sariska and subsequent arrests and interrogation, it is quite clear that the tigers there were killed by poachers. Early information indicates that the poaching gangs in Sariska had connections to others camped in Ranthambhore. Though the state government has given us three months, we have already made some interim recommendations for Ranthambhore that must be implemented immediately.''

The commitee's recommendations include:

• 100 extra guards

• Intensive patrolling - particularly on foot and during night

• Rigorous raids on suspected poachers' camps o Allocation of secret funds for intelligence gathering.

The committee, says Singh, will join the experts of the Wildlife Institute of India in the tiger census coming up in the third week of May this year to ascertain the actual numbers of the tigers in Ranthambhore and to determine if any tiger has survived in Sariska.

''We won't give up once our tenure ends. We will demand an implementation committee to monitor whether our recommendations are being carried out. This panel should report to the Assembly every six months,'' says Singh, who is also a member of the Project Tiger Steering Committee.