INQURY:Khel Ratna awardee guilty of poaching -Indian Express story

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Inquiry report finds Khel Ratna awardee guilty of poaching Sukhdeep Kaur

 

Chandigarh, September 25 In what could be enough to establish a prima facie case

of wildlife poaching under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, against world

trap shooting champion and Khel Ratna awardee for 2006 Manavjit Singh Sandhu,

the preliminary report submitted to the UT Forest Secretary by inquiry officer

(UT Wildlife Warden) has found Manavjit and his father Gurbir Singh Sandhu, a

former international trap shooter, guilty of killing schedule I and schedule III

wildlife animals. It was during a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid

at the Sector 39 flat of the then Sangrur MLA and arms dealer Arvind Khanna in

Chandigarh (the flat had been let out by Khanna to Gurbir Sandhu) in October

2006 that the CBI had stumbled upon evidence of poached wildlife articles and

nearly 151 photographs which, it is reliably learnt, are a disturbing testimony

to the father-son duo’s cruelty towards animals. Most of these photographs show

Manav and his father posing with arms

and the kill. In the presence of the CBI, a team of forest officials had

seized and sealed a pair of sambhar horns, 33 wild boar tusks, four video

cassettes, 151 photographs and 12 rolls of negatives and these were handed over

to the Chandigarh Wildlife Department for investigation. The photographs show

poaching in different parts of the country, mainly in South India, of schedule I

wildlife animals such as leopard, black buck and bison, etc., besides schedule

III wildlife animals such as wild boars, it is learnt. That the pictures do

not pertain to Chandigarh is clear from those accompanying the shooters, animals

in the photographs since they are not found in UT and from the registration

numbers of the vehicles used. An all-India ban on hunting was imposed in

1991-92 and any hunting since then can be undertaken only on special permit for

killing either wild animals declared vermin or man-eaters. According to this,

any picture of Manav with the kills must date to

when the shooter was 16 (he turned 31 this year). However, the pictures show

him to be above 16. While Gurbir had declared 25 articles (including wild boar

tusks, mounted wild boar head, sambar antler pair) under the 2003 immunity

scheme of the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests, the total number of

these articles is 33, the eight undeclared ones being wild boar tusks and

antlers. Gurbir had earlier sought to justify the same as a counting error,

which is a remote possibility considering that every wildlife article was

photographed four times and details were put down in an elaborate format before

the Chandigarh Administration. The undue delay in filing of the preliminary

report (more than 10 months) has also brought the intentions of the Chandigarh

Forest Department under a cloud. It was submitted to the UT Finance and Forest

Secretary S K Sandhu this month. However, Sandhu, when contacted, said the

report has not been submitted to him. UT Chief Wildlife

Warden Ishwar Singh, when contacted, said the matter is “under inquiry”. It is

also learnt that an application under the RTI Act had been filed on the inquiry.

Singh said the department is looking into it. Manavjit, when contacted, said

the wildlife articles were found at his father’s place and no allegation has so

far been brought against him. “Why are you raking up a matter which has been

done and settled with? The inquiry is still on and till then I am not worried

and will not react,” he said. Citing that the poaching/killing of wild animals

has been carried out outside the jurisdiction of UT and thus has inter-state

ramifications, the inquiry report has recommended handing over of the case to an

appropriate state or central agency such as the CBI for fair and speedy trial.

 

 

Dr.Sandeep K.Jain

 

 

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