Two dozen peacocks poisoned, probe ordered

JHANSI: Around two dozen peacocks in Varda village were allegedly poisoned under Kharela police station in Mahoba district on Monday morning. The village is home to Badsha Singh, minister in Mayawati government.
According to reports, some of the villagers noticed around three dozen peacocks struggling to breathe on Monday morning. While two dozen of them died on the spot, villagers could transfer only a dozen of them to a nearby health centre for treatment.They also tried to nab some unidentified people whom they suspected to have a role in poisoning of the birds. But before they could react, the men had run away.
The forest officials denied having any knowledge of the matter nor they reached the incident spot. As per Vireshwar Singh, DM Mahoba, he has ordered an investigation and assured, "Whosoever is found guilty will be tried against the special act of crime against endangered species". Meanwhile police has sent the bodies for post-mortem.