Seized shahtoosh shawls missing despite regular checks

Who performed it? It was Shakeel Ahmed Bhat, a Delhi-based trader from whom one of the largest consignments 172 of shahtoosh shawls was seized in 1995 8212; worth Rs 10 million and 320 chirus. And the people taken by surprise were the judiciary, the wildlife department and Delhi police.

The events which took place between 1995 when the trunks containing the shawls were seized and November 1999 when the same trunks were opened in the court, are true of most wildlife cases that languish in court for years. It is just that the names, dates and scales are different.

In December, 1995, with the help of some decoy customers, a raid was conducted at the Lajpat Nagar shop of Shakeel Ahmed and 172 shawls seized. Sample fibres were sent off to the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun for forensic confirmation of shahtoosh. The accused, Bhat was remanded to judicial custody till January 4, 1996 when he was released on bail on a personal bond with two sureties of Rs 50,000 each.

Then, the shawls were kept in the custody of the wildlife department. On January 11, 1996, an application for custody of the case property was filed by Bhat on the grounds that the wildlife authorities would not be able to maintain the shawls in a scientific manner8217; and carry out their regular disinfecting and airing.

Permission was granted to him by P K Jain, metropolitan magistrate, Delhi, who ordered restoring the shawls to the custody of Bhat on a surety bond of Rs 20 lakh. The only condition was that he would allow regular inspection of the seals and the contents of the trunk on the 15th of every month by two wildlife department officials. On June 18, came the forensic report that the shawls were indeed of shahtoosh. Meanwhile, Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister of Jamp;K intervened requesting Rajesh Pilot, then a Union minister, to allow the shawls to be transported to Srinagar for summer.

Since the lab tests had proved that the shawls were shahtoosh, wildlife authorites applied for the return of the seized shawls to the department. The Court then ordered an inspection of the articles on September 9, 1996. But when wildlife inspectors and WWF went to the premises of Bhat, he refused to let them examine the contents of the box. It is then that the inspecting team suspected that though the seals were intact, it was the hinges that had been tampered with. A FIR was also filed to this effect in the Lajpat Nagar Police station.

It was only in March 1998 that ACM8217;s court ordered Bhat to produce the case property in the case for examination. There was another court hearing on October 21, 1997 but the accused failed to produce the shawls.

The trunks were opened in the court only in November 1999 and it was evident that shawls were ordinary, hardly worth Rs 1,000 each. 8220;The seals were also found to be changed and we have given a report to this effect to the Judge,8221; said Surender Kumar, deputy director Northern region, Wildlife Preservation.

It was in October 1997, that an NGO, Wildlife Preservation Society of India WPSI, was allowed to intervene. 8220;This case is one of its kind where the case property was handed over to the accused himself,8221; said Ashok Kumar of WPSI. The accused now claims that the shawls were changed during the short period when they were with the Wildlife department before he had made his plea.

In spite of the apprehension in 1996, it was only three years later that the trunks were opened in the presence of the judge. This delay is a common factor in most cases, leaving the trail cold. In this case, the authorities claim that there was no regular magistrate to hear the case for months.

There are two other cases 8212; State versus Rajendra in May 1998 where 46 shahtoosh shawls were seized and State versus Rajesh Narula in March 1999 with 96 shawls where no charge-sheet has been filed as yet.