Prime suspect in Melghat tiger poaching case arrested in Pune

Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests S S Mishra said,“We were searching for Arkas for a long time. He managed to give a slip to the investigating teams many times,but was finally nabbed. Forest department officials will produce him before an Amravati court for seeking his custody. His interrogation will reveal crucial information about the tiger poaching racket.”

Forest officials said Arkas was wanted for killing a tiger in Ghatang range of Melghat forest in May 2013.

Investigators had arrested five persons in June 2013,who belonged to Baheliya community in Katni,Damoha and Khandwa districts of Madhya Pradesh. They had allegedly poached five tigers just three months before being arrested and had sold the skins and skeletons to another gang based in Haryana. This transaction reportedly took place at Ramtek near Nagpur.

Meanwhile,two suspects Yarlen and Barsul — who were arrested from Jabalpur by MP forest officials — were handed over to the Maharashtra forest department to probe their links with the tiger poaching cases in Melghat and Vidarbha. Yarlen reportedly had connections with suspects Mamru,Siri and Chika,who were arrested in June.

Based on information obtained from these suspects,extensive searches were carried out to nab poachers in Maharashtra and MP. In August,nine suspects were arrested from Baner Road in Pune. Later,four more were arrested from other parts. However,Arkas — who is suspected to have killed a tiger with a spear — continued to be on the run.

But following specific inputs,forest department teams conducted raids in different parts of Pune on Monday. “Arkas was arrested from Kasarwadi area around 10.30 pm on Monday. His links with those arrested from Pune and other parts are being probed,” said Assistant Conservator of Forests Shatanik Bhagwat.

Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had announced a CBI probe into tiger killings in the state between October 2012 and May 2013.