A DAY after a chauffeur and a farmer were arrested by the forest department for allegedly hunting a male blackbuck near the Kalatalav village on the periphery of Blackbuck National Park (BNP)in Bhavnagar, a local court in Vallabhipur Sunday sent them to one-day remand even as the hunt continued for the three other accused. Officers of the Mobile Squad Range of BNP produced Budha Vegad (53) and Javedkhan Pathan (33) at a court in Vallabhipur Sunday with an application seeking their remand. The court granted the application and sent the duo to the custody of the forest department for a day. While Vegad is a farmer from Kalatalav, Pathan is a resident of the Anandnagar area in Jamnagar city and works as a chauffeur of a businessman in Bhavnagar. The duo were caught by a team of forest department while they were chopping the blackbuck's meat after hunting it by trapping it in a net. “Acting on a tip-off, our staff caught the duo red-handed while they were chopping and dividing the meat in a stretch of government wasteland in Kalatalav village late Friday evening. While Vegad and Pathan were chased and eventually caught by our team, three other accused managed to flee the spot,” an officer of BNP told The Indian Express, adding efforts were on to trace the three absconders. Blackbucks have been included on Schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and thus, are among the species enjoying the highest level of legal protection in the country. Hunting a blackbuck can entail a jail term of up to seven years. “The two accused are friends and claim they had hunted the blackbuck for their own consumption,” the officer further said. Forest officers added blackbuck horns were recovered from the crime scene, confirming the accused had hunted a male blackbuck. They further said tests by forensic experts had also confirmed the meat found in possession of the accused was that of a blackbuck. “The modus operandi of the accused to hunt the blackbuck by trapping it in a net suggested it could not be the first time they had killed a blackbuck. During interrogation, the accused confessed they had hunted blackbucks previously also,” the officer added. Another officer said the accused apparently took advantage of inclement weather. “It had rained in that area, making it difficult for the herbivores to move faster. The accused apparently took advantage of the situation and trapped the blackbuck,” said the officer.
