Raid on farm house in Bandipur…

48 spotted & sambar deer antlers, Switzerland calibre with magazine, single barrel rifle, Taiwan air soft submachine gun, revolver, live bullets, six Chinese bone or ivory chop sticks, Nepalese kukri gurkha knife and one Utility Terrain Vehicle found in possession of accused

Mysuru: Forest Department officers raided a farm house at Kebbepura village in  the fringes of Bandipur Tiger Reserve Forest and seized a huge cache of wildlife trophies including spotted deer and sambar antlers, fire arms and ammunitions on Tuesday. While one person was arrested, two others have managed to give a slip to the Forest officers.

Suresh Periyar, son of Doll B. Periyar, aged 46 years, from Varsova layout, C.V. Raman Nagar, Bengaluru, who was working as the watchman of the farm house, has been arrested, while other two accused Senetila Lang Kumer and Colonel J. Jacob, VSM, Varsova Layout, C.V. Raman Nagar, are absconding.  Suresh was produced before a Court yesterday and has been remanded to Judicial Custody. The agricultural land where the farm house is built, belongs to prime accused Senetila Lang Kumer.

Acting on a tip off from villagers, a team of Forest personnel raided the farm house and recovered following wildlife articles; 48 spotted deer/ sambar deer antlers, one skull with antlers, two pelts and 120 peafowl feathers. The arms and ammunitions seized were; one Switzerland calibre with magazine 14 loaded ammunition, single barrel rifle, one Taiwan air soft submachine gun, one old revolver, one Marlin rifle, one box ammunition containing 62 live bullets and 7 empty bullets, one pocket 20 live bullets, 2 Infrared Cameras, six Chinese bone or ivory chop sticks, one each of Nepalese kukri gurkha knife with bone handle and small knife with animal bone or tooth handle, laser bullet fence, metallic machine gun ammunition belt with 50 bullets and one Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV).

At the time of the raid, about 20 spotted deer/ sambar deer antlers and one deer skull with antlers were found in the watchman shed, while the rest of the seizures were made from the farm house.

As Suresh told that he didn’t have the keys of the farm house door, the Forest personnel had to break open the door, only to find a huge cache of wildlife trophies, arms and ammunitions. Suresh has reportedly told the Forest officers that the wildlife trophies and arms and ammunitions belong to Col. Jacob.

The aid was conducted under the guidance of in-charge Director of Bandipur Tiger Reserve DCF Shubham Singh Tanwar and was led by Range Forest Officer (RFO) of Kundakere Range, Nisar Ahmed.

The team consisted of Gundlupet Sub-Division ACF K. Suresh, GS Betta RFO K.P. Sathish Kumar, Kundukere DRFO Ramesh S. Mathapati and GS Betta DRFO A. Srikanth.

A case has been registered under Wildllife Protection Act 1972.