Forest Department officials have arrested two more persons, M. Thangavel (42) and K. Rajavel (28), managers of a farm owned by Theni MP, O. P. Ravindhranath, in connection with the death of a leopard. Earlier, there were allegations that Forest Department officials foisted a case against a farmer, S. Alexpandian (35), in connection with the death of the big cat near Theni.
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Founder and state secretary of Tamil Nadu Cattle-rearers Protection Association, Sathyam C. Saravanan, claimed that Alexpandian, who had been involved in sheep penning in the over 300 acres of farm, had been falsely implicated in the death of the wild cat and had been booked under various provisions of Wildlife Protection Act.
The leopard was found dead along the Bodi Reserve Forest range in the farm on Tuesday. After post-mortem was conducted, the carcass was burnt and buried in the private land, complained Mr. Saravanan.
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Contending that the same leopard had attacked the Assistant Conservator of Forest only the previous day, Mr. Saravanan wondered why the death of the wild animal was not made public immediately. He also questioned why the Forest officials kept the arrest of Alexpandian “a secret”.
He claimed Alexpandian was assaulted. "The sheep pen was located at least one km away from the spot where the animal was found dead," he said.
However, Forest Range Officer, M. Senthil Kumar, said the wild cat was killed as it had killed two sheep left in the farm.
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Mr. Saravanan, however, claimed he had an audio clip of the conversation between one of the managers of the farm of the MP in which he had forced Alexpandian to admit to having killed the animal.
"Only after we produced the audio clip, did the forest official arrest the managers of the farm," he claimed.
The association members have decided to approach State Human Rights Commission and also petition to the Collector and Superintendent of Police, Theni on foisting of case against the cattle farmer.