3 forest officials suspended in Kelzara poaching case

Yavatmal, Maharashtra, May 2 (UNI) Three forest officials have been suspended in connection with deer poaching in Kelzara forests in this district.

Minister of Forests Babanrao Pachpute has also ordered a CID probe into the issue.

Chief Conservator of Forests, Yavatmal, Shailesh Bahadur informed that range forest officer R K Chavan and assistant RFO G V Kawale have been suspended.

Deputy Chief Conservator of Forests Rajesh Pandav had conducted an inquiry into the poaching case and, based on his report, the two officials were suspended. Earlier, another forest department employee, A V Gulhane, had also been suspended.

Forest department officials and police had conducted a joint operation on April 5 and had arrested a member of an inter-state poachers gang. The police had seized two live cartridges, an imported gun, and the carcass of a deer.

The gang members were celebrating their success in hunting a deer in Kelzara village when the police swooped on them after receiving a tip-off. Police arrested Isabhai Mohammad Iqbal Malani (35) but the rest managed to escape. The gang, police said, is led by Arthadbhai who hails from Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, Isabhai Malani was produced before a local court which remanded him in judicial custody till April 17. He was later released on bail.

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