Five arrested in Telangana for allegedly poaching black-naped hare, blackbuck

Five people were taken into police custody on Sunday for allegedly poaching wild animals in Telangana’s Nizamabad district. The Telangana Forest Department officials recovered two rifles with scopes and silencers from the poaching party.

On Sunday, officials found the accused with a skinned black-naped hare, an Indian hare noted for its patch of black fur that runs along the nape of its neck. The animal is listed under Schedule-4 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and hunting it attracts a punishment of three-year imprisonment or a fine up to Rs 23,000 or both.

The accused have confessed to having hunted a blackbuck and a spotted deer earlier, say officials.

The main accused Luqman Affendi (47), a resident of Gudimalkapur in Hyderabad, is a habitual offender and a member of the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI). He was arrested along with his brother Imran Affendi and three other aides, MD Sharukh Khan (23), Shaik Raaz Ahmad (43) and MD Jameeluddin (61).

Officials say all the accused were taken into custody from a rice mill owned by Luqman at Jokara village of Nizamabad district. The District Forest Officer (Vigilance) M Raja Ramana Reddy, while addressing the press, said they had been keeping tabs on his activities for a while.

Officials say Luqman often used to invite his friends to join him on hunting expeditions, serving them wildlife meat. On Sunday past 11:30 pm, Luqman left the rice mill in a Tata Safari along with the hunting party and returned from his expedition past 4:30 am, police say. Officials raided the rice mill soon after and recovered the skinned black-naped hare. Officials also found meat packed in plastic bags ina deep freezer at the rice mill. The samples have been sent to the Centre for Cellular Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad for testing, reported The New Indian Express.

All the accused have been booked under provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and will be produced before the court on Monday, forest department officials informed media.