Akash, the son of deceased notorious poacher Sansar Chand, was arrested on Monday following a raid in which a mob allegedly attacked the police team and also bit two of them.
Akash, who had followed his father’s footsteps in the illegal trade, has a non-bailable warrant issued against him by a court in Rajasthan. He will now be handed over to the personnel from Udaipur’s Hathipole police station, where he has several cases under the Wild Life Protection Act registered against him.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav said while Akash does not have any such case against him in Delhi, he has been booked for preventing the police from arresting him.
Recalling the dramatic raid, head constable Hamender Rathi, who was heading a team of three, said they reached Paharganj soon after receiving a tip-off about Akash’s whereabouts. There, they met stiff resistance in the form of 50-odd people charging at them.
“They threw stones at us and someone bit my hand and that of constable Pankaj, but we held on. We were trapped till the local police came to our rescue,” said head constable Hamender.
On questions regarding recoveries, Mr. Yadav said so far he has not disclosed any location where he has concealed the hides or any other animal body parts that he would buy from hunters belonging to some tribal communities in forest areas and smuggle them abroad.
“After Sansar Chand’s death in 2004, Akash ventured into the trade. He was involved in a case after leopard nails were recovered from his possession. He was lodged in jail in connection with this case till 2008 and got bail after spending almost four years in jail,” said Mr. Yadav. His mother Rani was arrested in 2015, but he managed to escape.
Dabbled in business
“He made efforts to get anticipatory bail, but his plea was dismissed by the Jodhpur Bench of Rajasthan High Court. He then moved to Delhi and started “Sara Electronics” in Karol Bagh, which is in the business of selling laptop of prominent company “Asus” through Snapdeal. But he was operating his inter-State network of wildlife trafficking under the guise of selling laptops,” said Mr. Yadav.
The police suspect that Akash and his family were using proceeds from the wildlife trade and the electronics business as front for the same.
