Police on Wednesday arrested three persons and confiscated a tiger’s skin and ten nails from their possession. The accused tried to sell the hide and nails for Rs.25 lakh.
The arrested persons include Y. Appala Raju and J. Tirupati of Visakhapatnam district and S. Kishore of Vizianagaram district. Appala Raju is working as CRPF constable, while Tirupati is a retired army man, said Avanigadda Circle Inspector K. Shivaji.
On a tip-off that three persons, who checked into a lodge at Mopidevi, were trying to sell the tiger’s hide and nails, the police team led by SIs Lova Raju, Srinivas and Satyanarayana conducted a raid and recovered the tiger parts. During interrogation, Tirupati revealed that he procured the tiger’s skin and nails from tribal people when he was working in Sagar area in Madhya Pradesh in 2004.
A case has been registered against the accused under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 and he will be produced in court on Thursday, said the CI.
“The skin and nails would be sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for authentication and information would be given to Forest Department authorities,” said Probationary Sub-Inspectors D. Venkat Kumar and K. Venu Gopal, who participated in the raid.
