Gujarat: Five held for illegal lion show in Kodinar

RAJKOT: Five persons were arrested on Friday in connection with the illegal lion show organised in a village of Kodinar taluka of Gir Somnath district.
A series of videos of the lion show had become viral in social media.
The accused were identified as Mukesh Singhad, Dilip Singhad, Dilip Lalakiya, Bhana Singhad, all residents of Ghatvad village and Satish Nagralia, a resident of Jamvala.
The accused have been booked under section 9 of Wildlife Protection Act which has the provision of imprisonment up to seven years.
The main accused in the case, Mayuddin Kadri was still absconding, said, forest officials, adding that more people may be involved whose names would be revealed after interrogating the arrested accused.
According to forest officials, the accused involved in the illegal lion show were locals and no outsider or tourists were involved.
On Thursday, a series of videos had gone viral showing a live cow being offered as bait to a lion. The videos were shot in Ghantvad village of Kodinar taluka which falls under the Jamwala forest range.
The area where the video was shot is a reserved forest area near Singoda river.
Deputy conservator of forest Gir (West) Division Dheeraj Mittal said, “There are couple of more persons who are yet to be arrested in the case. The accused knew that the lion was around so they put up a bait and made the videos.”
In one of the videos, two bikes are seen parked at about 100 metres away from a cow which is tied with a rope. The accused are seen sitting with sticks usually carried by beat guards.
In the video, lion is seen rushing towards the bait and pouncing on it.
The male lion makes the kill while the accused are seen busy making videos on their mobile phones and taking photographs.