The Hindu : National : Czech national on bail ‘flees country’

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Czech national on bail ‘flees country’

Marcus Dam

KOLKATA: Czech national Emil Kucera, who had been granted conditional bail by a local court in Darjeeling after being served a three-year jail term for allegedly smuggling out rare insects from the Singalila National Park, has reportedly fled the country and is back in the Czech Republic.

He returned late last week, Petr Zabransky, president, Working Group of Austrian Entomologists, and an associate of Mr. Kucera in the international community of entomologists, told The Hindu over telephone from Vienna on Tuesday.

The Czech Entomological Society has reportedly confirmed Mr. Kucera’s return.

Mr. Kucera was arrested, along with compatriot Petr Svecha, in June for smuggling out rare beetles, butterflies, pupa and moths from the national park. The former was served three years’ imprisonment by the court on September 10 for the offence under the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972.

Mr. Svecha, associated with the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and who was let off by the court with a fine, has been admitted in a hospital in New Delhi, the lawyer of the two men, Taranga Pandit, said over telephone from Darjeeling.

Mr. Kucera, who was planning to move a higher court against the prison sentence, had without prior information left the hotel where he had been staying in Darjeeling. His passport is in the custody of the local court.

He had been directed by the court to appear before it once a week and not to leave the district during his bail period, but he had failed to turn up in recent weeks, according to information reaching the police.

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