The killing of two rhinos at the Gorumara National Park in north Bengal has raised questions about security and vigilance at the national park, prompting authorities to form a committee to look into whether there were lapses on part of forest officials.
Two carcasses of one-horned rhinoceroses were exhumed from the national park on Friday.
According to reports, the poachers had killed the rhinos several weeks ago and the bodies were hidden inside the park. It was only after rhino horns were recovered from a group of smugglers in Assam that forest officials came to know about the poaching at Gorumara National Park.
“We have arrested five persons. I spoke to the principal chief conservator of forest Pradeep Vyas and asked him to conduct an inquiry and fix the responsibility,” Bengal Forest Minister Binoy Krishna Burman told The Hindu on Saturday.
‘Handiwork of gangs’
Mr. Barman said organised gangs operating in Assam and the northeast of country were now trying to target the national parks in the State.
Sniffer dogs have been deployed by forest officials to search for clues.
In 2014, two cases of rhino poaching were reported in north Bengal. West Bengal has the second highest rhinoceros population in India, after Assam. The Jaldapara National Park has about 200 rhinos and the Gorumara National Park has about 50 rhinos.
