Apart from the leopard skin, officials also recovered ten leopard claws. The leopard has been identified as a six-year-old male.
Thane crime branch unit -05 police officials arrested a man for selling leopard skin. The accused identified as Dipak Anilsingh Pardeshi(39), was caught red-handed at Kopri near Thane railway station and taken into custody. However, the forest department has not been infromed of the same.
Apart from the leopard skin, officials also recovered ten leopard claws. The leopard has been identified as a six-year-old male.
Dipak, a human rights activist from Nashik was caught on Wednesday at around 5 pm after the official received a tip-off. Investigations revealed that the skin was to be sold to a Thane resident. Along with the claws, the skin cost Rs 8 lakhs and has six times more value in the International market.
Sameer Mohite, Eco Echo NGO said, "This is the second such incident in Than ein the last seven days. The officials should take some serious action against the accused since it is a schedule 1 animal."
Ichichant Kambli, Range Forest Officer, Thane said, "We are not aware that Thane police have arrested an accused. Mumbai has more leopard skin lovers and Thane being a safe place for smugglers, has become a central place for purchase and dealings."
Parag Manere, DCP, crime, Thane, said, "We are keeping regular watch on such activities with an aim to bring them down. We are investigating if the accused has any links to the past criminals and have found nothing on that front yet. A case has been registered with the Kopri police station.We suspect that the leaopard was trapped by soemone else with the help of some leopard trap equipments in Madhya Pradesh. Further probe is on."
M Maranko, Regional Deputy Director Of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Western Region, said, "We have sent our officials to check things and seized the leopard skin and claws which have been found to be genuine."
This is the second incident in Thane. On January 26, Thane crime branch unit -3 police officials had recovered skins and claws worth rupees 7 .73 lakhs, arresting four. The case was registered at Vishnu nagar police station, Dombivli.
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