The CBI today registered an FIR in the Saharanpur poaching incident but did not list Tehelka officials who were earlier named in the case. The FIR only names two poachers already under arrest and some unidentified people.The CBI said it had just re-registered the report filed by the Uttar Pradesh police, which too did not name any Tehelka official. The two poachers, Inaam and Meherban, had been arrested after three panthers were killed at Biharigarh area of the Shivalik division, near the Rajaji National Park. The police had seized skins of three panthers, some deer horns, a country-made pistol and a video camera from them.Preliminary investigations indicated the two poachers were hired to kill the panthers while being recorded on camera, the motive being to expose poaching. The two poachers reportedly claimed they were hired by Dehra Dun-based DFO Paramjeet Singh who introduced them to tehelka.com correspondent Kumar Badal for a sting operation. The poachers also said they were given two digital video cameras by one Pankaj, who later turned out to be a Tehelka reporter. Both the forest officer and Tehelka CEO Tarun Tejpal have denied the charge.But the UP police claim the connection between poaching and Tehelka was further established through records of Pankaj’s cellphone, which was registered in the name of Buffalo Network Private Ltd, the parent company of Tehelka.The CBI has sent a team to bring Inaam and Meherban to the capital for interrogation. CBI officials say they have been informed by wildlife experts that there is great demand for videos on poaching in the international market. For a five-minute film, a person can earn as much as $1,500, a senior officer said.
