Team was investigating sale of bushmeat in the area; owner of house in SGNP on the run
In a successful operation that took place in the Chena village area under the guidance of Range Forest Officer Rajendra Pawar, the Sanjay Gandhi National Park authorities confiscated two air guns and a country made gun from a house, along with the meat of a wild boar.
Forest official says
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Confirming the incident, Chief Conservator of Forest and SGNP Director Anwar Ahmed said, "Our team had raided a house in Chena and all that I can say is that investigation is in progress."
The Forest Department is investigating the angle of bushmeat trade in the incident and are suspecting that there might be nexus at work.
According to Range Forest Officer, Rajendra Pawar of Yeoor Range, "We had got a tip-off from highly-placed sources that one Yogesh Jadhav from Chena village in the Yeoor Range of the park used to distribute and allegedly sell bushmeat to villagers. There was also information that he stored the bush meat at his house."
Also Read: New plan to conserve Sanjay Gandhi National Park and protect it from poaching
In the wee hours of Tuesday, the team, under the guidance of Pawar, raided the house of one of the accused, Yogesh Jadhav, in Chena village and during a search operation that was conducted, the forest department staff found the meat of the wild boar stored in a container in the deep freezer of the fridge inside the house.
"The meat has been sealed and sent to the forensic lab for analysis. We are confident that it's wild boar meat. We also recovered three guns, two air guns and a country made weapon. The house from where all of these was seized belongs to one Yogesh Jadhav and he is absconding," a source said.
The Forest Department has booked Jadhav under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and the source told mid-day that at the time of the raid the accused had gone fishing and somehow got wind of the raid at his house and ran away.
Also Read: Mumbai: New animal rescue centre at Shilphata to ease SGNP's load
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