'Tigress Avni (T1) was killed in hurry'

The Maharashtra Forest Department has closed the probe in the killing of tigress T1 also known as Avni hinting that a cleanchit has been given to shooter Asghar Ali son of controversial shooter Shafat Ali Khan But did former Chief Wildlife Warden of Maharashtra A K Misra deliberately delay action against the shooterThis even though the National Tiger Conservation Authority NTCA and stateappointed expert committee had found severe violations by him The committee had also found that the tigress was shot in a hurry by the inexperienced Asghar Ali Khan NTCA has written a strongly worded letter to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary stating his office should interveneT1 was shot at Pandharkawda in YavatmalShot taken in a hurryThe NTCAappointed committee had also found that the claims made by the shooter that he shot the tigress in selfdefense were false Point number 10 from its report states From the reconstruction of the movement of T1 and final position of the body of T1 it was moving away from the road and vehicle on its traditional walk path while it was shot On that day the tigress was not aggressive and the behaviour shown by the tigress was natural as the animal was hit by a dart and they were moving towards the direction of the animal The natural reaction of the tiger was mistaken and the shot was taken in a hurry by inexperienced Asghar Ali KhanOn February 6 2019 Assistant Inspector General NTCA Dr Vaibhav C Mathur sent a letter to the Chief Secretary regarding the action taken with respect to the report of the NTCALetter from NTCAThe copy of the letter which is with midday states Reference is invited to the subject and correspondence cited above In this context I am directed to inform that this authority had submitted findings of its inquiry into elimination of tiger T1 at Pandharkawda which had highlighted violations for which action was solicited from the state of MaharashtraThe letter states that there were several reminders to the CWW of Maharashtra The letter also requested the Chief Secretarys office to intervene so that the issue reaches its logical conclusion When contacted former CWW Misra said Ive no role in prosecuting anyone Whatever role was expected of me Ive done with full dedication and sincerelyExperts speakDirector of The Corbett Foundation Kedar Gore said Both factfinding committees appointed by the Maharashtra government have concluded that there have been violations in this case I am shocked that despite these reports FD has given a clean chit to the hunter duo Nothing but unnecessary political interference could have driven this Its a mockery of democracyRenowned tiger expert Dr Ulhas Karanth who was part of the stateappointed committee said I am of the view that the report should be made public right away The NTCAappointed committees report is in the public domainEnvironmentalist Stalin D from NGO Vanashakti said Obviously there has been a huge cover up at the behest of some big political entity What should have been a severely punishable crime under the Wildlife Protection Act has been reduced to a petty noncognisable offence to protect the guiltyGandhi targets MungantiwarUNION Minister Maneka Gandhi has come down heavily on state Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and former CWW AK Misra regarding the killing of T1 She alleged Both the NTCA and the stateappointed committee of experts have pointed out the lies and criminal illegalities of shooters Asghar Ali Khan Shafat Ali Khan and the forest officers But since Mungantiwar is directly involved in this killing and the others before it and in the diversion of the forest in which they belong I am not surprised that he has given a clean chit to these criminals Even when he formed the state enquiry committee he wanted only his people on it Ultimately he took on board one of my recommended names but went against his advice as well Diversion is where a patch of forest is given for a project Gandhi also alleged that Misra retired with full benefits instead of action against him She said The Chief Minister should be held accountable for this shameful exoneration of criminals If he did not want destruction of the forest of Yavatmal this would not have happenedCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates