Indore: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Saturday morning raided a juice centre in the city which was running an illegal private zoo. The DRI seized more than 50 endangered exotic animals including birds, reptiles, fish and mammals. It is alleged that they were smuggled here and thus DRI was calculating the evasion of import duty. From last many years Sagar Juice Centre, run by Raju Sagar, has been displaying animals at his centre located close to Gorakund square in Malharganj area. Surprisingly, the centre is situated less than 100 metres away from the Malharganj Police Station but neither state’s forest department nor IMCtook any action.
In the meantime, from last few years the centre added multiple exotic animals including birds, reptiles, fish and mammals to its collection and developed a private zoo parallel to the juice centre to woo customers. The zoo is being run by the society Karuna Sagar floated by Raju Sagar himself, which did not have any license to run the private zoo. A seven-member team of officers, DRI Indore Zonal Unit, along with 15 MP police personnel, four officers of MP Forest Department and three members from Tiger Strike Force of MP Forest Department conducted a search at Sagar Juice Centre at around 7am. The action came to end at 3.30pm. Panic prevailed in the area as soon as the DRI raided the centre.
The DRI officers later closed down the shutter of the zoo. The raid was carried out under the Customs Act 1962. The official sources of DRI Indore Zonal Unit informed this correspondent that from the last few months, the agency was getting information that the Sagar Juice Centre was running a private zoo where exotic animals were put up for display. These animals were brought in the city defying the set norms of imports of live animals, evading the customs duty. DRI grills Sagar: The exotic animals were kept in cages which were below standard and in inhospitable conditions. The DRI team seized more than 50 animals and sent them in a special vehicle to the Kamla Nehur Prani Sangralay (the city zoo) for proper care and treatment. CONTD. ON P8