15 barn owls meant for ‘black magic rituals’ rescued by Hyderabad police

The Hyderabad Task Force police on Tuesday rescued 15 barn owls from Faluknuma area of the city. The police took into custody 22-year-old Kamran Ali Farooq, a Hyderabad resident, for attempting to sell the birds.

The rescued owls were sent to the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad and their condition is reportedly healthy. The accused, Farooq, a resident of Teegalkunta of Faluknuma, was handed over the forest Department officials for further questioning and legal action, reported The New Indian Express.

The police told the paper that the accused had planned on selling the birds for an amount ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Forest department officials say barn owls are often used as a ‘sacrifice’ in black magic rituals and hence are in demand. The accused, upon questioning, told investigators that he caught the birds from nests found in old and large buildings within the Hyderabad city limits. He was selling the birds to customers who mostly hail from other states.

The barn owl is a Scheduled IV species under 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 forest department has registered a case against Farooq under the Act.

Officials with the Nehru Zoological Park told the paper that the birds were rescued in a healthy condition and will be released back into the wild, based on directions from the Chief Wildlife Warden of the state.

On December 20, five people were taken into police custody for allegedly poaching wild animals in Telangana’s Nizamabad district. Officials found the accused with a skinned black-naped hare, which is an Indian hare noted for its patch of black fur that runs along the nape of its neck. The accused have also confessed to having hunted a blackbuck and a spotted deer earlier, say officials.

Officials also found meat packed in plastic bags in a deep freezer at a rice mill at Jokara village of Nizamabad district, owned by the main accused Luqman Affendi (47), a resident of Gudimalkapur in Hyderabad.