KOLHAPUR: The Ratnagiri forest department has arrested one more person in Sindhudurg district in connection to the leopard skin case and seized two antlers of sambar deer and a skull.
The arrested accused has been identified as Ajit Chandrakant Natu (48). On September 20, Ratnagiri forest department has arrested three people on the Mumbai-Goa Highway near a petrol pump at Kodavali village of Rajapur taluka for illegally possessing a leopard skin.
Priyanka Lagad, the range forest officer of Ratnagiri, “During further investigation, the three arrested accused informed us that they got the leopard skin from Ajit Chandrakant Natu, a resident of Dhakora village in Sawantwadi taluka of Sindhudurg district. Natu works at the flour mill owned by one of the accused Jayesh Babi Parab. When he was arrested, Natu confessed that he had given the leopard skin to the three earlier arrested accused. During further investigation, two antlers of sambar deer and its skull was found at his home.
A case has been registered against the accused under sections 9, 39, 51 and 52 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. After he was presented to the first-class court, Natu has been remanded in forest department custody for three days. Under the Wildlife Conservation Act 1972, sambar is included in Schedule 3 of the Wildlife.
