Two held, three evade arrest in Bihta blackbuck case

Ramashankar | TNN | Updated: May 4, 2020, 17:51 IST

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PATNA: The forest department officials on Sunday formally arrested two people and sent them to jail for transporting a female blackbuck in an SUV near Bihta in Patna rural on Saturday. They were identified as Md Salim and Kapil Kumar of Maner.
Patna divisional forest officer (DFO) Ruchi Singh said the vehicle used in the crime was registered in the name of one Arshad Khan, stated to be the brother of Farid Khan alias Guddu Khan, the vice-chairperson of Maner Nagar Parishad.
Singh said Arshad, Sanjay Rai, Guddu Khan, Salim and Kapil were named as accused in the wild life offence report, also called POR. Three others were absconding, she said.
The accused have been booked under Section 9 of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972. If held guilty by the competent court, the accused may have to undergo imprisonment from three to seven years, Singh said.
The recovered blackbuck will be handed over to the Patna zoo authorities. “We have already informed the senior officers of the forest department about it,” Singh said over phone.
Guddu was earlier booked for allegedly killing a ‘nilgai’. The case is still pending with Maner police station. “Hunting or keeping any endangered species is an offence under Wild Life Protection Act,” a senior forest department officer said.
Bihta police station SHO Awadhesh Kumar Jha said the seized vehicle had been issued travel pass during lockdown.
Last week, a young male blackbuck was found dead and its two horns chopped off under Baghaila police station area in Rohtas district. A police constable, Niraj Kumar Dubey, was arrested and one of the horns of the killed blackbuck was recovered.
The senior officials of the forest department said blackbucks were being killed in Bihar either for meat or using them as trophies.
Meanwhile, two blackbucks were spotted by some people near Pasera village under Imamganj panchayat and Gareria village under Raniganj panchayat in Gaya district on Sunday morning. The blackbucks entered the villages in a bid to save themselves from stray dogs, which chased them.
Imamganj BDO Jai Kishun Kumari said the blackbucks were handed over to the forest department officials.