Five people have been arrested for allegedly killing a leopard and two others for trying to hunt a wild boar in a village in Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, a forest official said on Sunday.
The carcass of the 8-year-old leopard, with two nails missing and the teeth extracted, was found last Monday near Bitkula village in Spiat-Sonthi forest range, said Bilaspur Divisional Forest Officer Kumar Nishant.
”It was suspected that poachers had killed it through electrocution. We arrested two people on Friday. Three others were held in Saturday. They are Phul Singh Yadav (70), Teejram Patel alias Bhakachand (58), Nandkumar Patel (50), Santosh Dhanuhar and Samaru Dhanuhar alias Sanjay,” he said.
”We recovered a leopard nail and two teeth from Nandkumar, who had wrapped it in a plastic bag and put it inside a 30-foot deep well. An axe, 10 arrows and a bow, electric wire, spade and other items used for poaching have been seized from the accused,” the official added.
Meanwhile, two people identified as Baldev Singh and Rahas Ram Patel were also held from the village on Saturday after wild boar remains were found in their homes, the official said.
