Leopard skins seized, top Delhi wildlife NGO accused of nexus with poachers

“After both key accused, who were on the payroll of Wildlife SOS, named Kartick Satyanarayan, he has been asked to appear before the Investigating Officer. We are coordinating with the WCCB (Wildlife Crime Control Bureau)…we will do everything it takes to secure our forests,” Madhya Pradesh chief wildlife warden Sameeta Rajoura told The Indian Express.

One of the leg-hold traps seized by Madhya Pradesh STTF

The case traces back to July 23, when four poachers were arrested on the Gwalior-Agra highway with 10 leopard skins. At the time, NGO Wildlife SOS credited months of surveillance by its own Forest Watch anti-poaching unit for the bust. But because the pelts had originated in Madhya Pradesh, the STSF opened a parallel probe and that investigation is what has now turned the narrative on its head.

Field investigations in the Shivpuri and Morena forests turned up multiple sites where leopard remains were buried; these have been sent to the Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun for DNA matching against the skins seized on July 23. Investigators also recovered three leg-hold traps, and it was this trail that led them to Bhagwan Singh and, through him, to Wasim. The MP STSF picked up Bhagwan Singh on August 11 and Wasim on August 13.

“Our teams also found three leg-hold traps and made some arrests which led them to the prime accused Bhagwan Singh, a wildlife trader with a long history, who turned out to be on the payroll of this NGO for at least five years. This led to the arrest of Wasim, another Wildlife SOS employee,” a senior Madhya Pradesh forest official said.

According to sources familiar with the investigation, Singh and his accomplices scouted forest areas around Shivpuri and Morena in a Wildlife SOS vehicle — now in STSF custody — and distributed leg-hold traps sourced from Haryana to handpicked local hunters. It was Singh, sources said, who arranged for four poachers to carry the 10 leopard skins to a decoy buyer near a dhaba on the Gwalior-Agra highway, where UP police made the arrests.

“This network started poaching leopards in the Shivpuri area last year. If it was indeed an undercover operation to nab poachers, why did they continue until 10 leopards had been killed? They have to explain why they created such a demand for skins and distributed leg-hold traps to be deployed in a sensitive landscape where we also have cheetahs,” a Forest department source said. Bhopal sources added that the department has not ruled out tigers also being caught in the same trapping network, despite the Shivpuri landscape’s only sporadic tiger presence.

A retired forest official suggested the alleged scheme fits a familiar trafficking playbook. “This could well follow the classical model where traffickers trade the high-value material to make profit while getting their rivals arrested with some low-value goods to earn brownie points — in this case, attract big donors and grants.” The same official pointed to Wildlife SOS’s aggressive fundraising for rescued bear cubs at Bhopal’s Van Vihar zoo, under an MoU with the state that is due to expire next month.

Singh’s arrest is also reviving scrutiny of an earlier case. A former Delhi Police officer who was dismissed from the force, Singh, with Wasim, was reportedly present in Tamil Nadu’s Sathyamangalam forest area in 2023, when a tiger skin, a leopard skin, and a tiger skeleton were seized, according to Tamil Nadu forest department sources. Wildlife SOS had claimed credit then, too, for both the seizure and the poachers’ subsequent conviction.

Satyanarayan co-founded Wildlife SOS with Geeta Seshamani in 1995. The organisation began with a bear rescue centre in Agra, later added an elephant facility in Mathura, and has since expanded across India through MoUs with states and sub-centres.

Wildlife SOS responds

Kartick Satyanarayan and Geeta Seshamani did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Saturday (August 15). On Sunday (August 16), after this report was published, Satyanarayan responded in an emailed statement: “Wasim Akram is a Director with Wildlife SOS and is therefore on our payroll. Wildlife SOS is supported with a large network of volunteers and friends who continuously assist us by providing information, bandwidth and leads relating to wildlife and conservation. We refer to many of these individuals as our “Forest Friends”. Their association is critical to our conservation efforts, which reflect our continuous and unwavering commitment to protecting wildlife.

“Wildlife SOS is a law-abiding organisation that has worked closely with law enforcement agencies throughout its 32 year history to combat the menace of poaching and support wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. We work with law enforcement agencies across several states in India for a range of purposes, including wildlife crime prevention, rescue and conservation. We remain committed to fully supporting all legitimate investigations and lawful processes.

“We are not privy to any material (digital evidence) you are referring to. None of this alleged material has been shared with me or with Wildlife SOS, so I cannot comment on its contents or authenticity. If such material is placed before us through due process of law, we will examine it and respond appropriately.

“We now find ourselves vilified, and this appears to be an attempt to tarnish the good image of both myself and my organisation. We are deeply shocked and concerned that, instead of being recognised for our vital support and assistance in exposing the poaching, we are being falsely accused of being perpetrators of the very crimes we have been fighting against for three decades. We believe the truth will be exposed and have faith in the judicial system.”