Seven men have been arrested by Yadgir regional forest officials in Karnataka following a surprise raid that uncovered evidence of wildlife poaching, specifically the hunting of peacocks. The operation, conducted near Motanahalli village, also led to the seizure of unlicensed firearms, cooked peacock meat, live turtles, and cooking utensils. The accused, who are residents of Kalaburagi district, are facing charges under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and have been remanded to judicial custody.

Seven men have been arrested by Yadgir regional forest officials in Karnataka following a surprise raid that uncovered evidence of wildlife poaching, specifically the hunting of peacocks. The operation, conducted near Motanahalli village, also led to the seizure of unlicensed firearms, cooked peacock meat, live turtles, and cooking utensils. The accused, who are residents of Kalaburagi district, are facing charges under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and have been remanded to judicial custody.

Seven men have been arrested by Yadgir regional forest officials in Karnataka following a surprise raid that uncovered evidence of wildlife poaching, specifically the hunting of peacocks. The operation, conducted near Motanahalli village, also led to the seizure of unlicensed firearms, cooked peacock meat, live turtles, and cooking utensils. The accused, who are residents of Kalaburagi district, are facing charges under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and have been remanded to judicial custody.

Yadgir regional forest officials have arrested seven men and seized unlicensed firearms after conducting a surprise raid near Motanahalli village in Karnataka. The forest department found evidence of wildlife poaching inside the reserved forest area on Saturday. 

The arrested have been identified as Ningappa, Vasudeva, Kareppa, Kantappa, Yallalinga, Basavaraj and Mallappa. The accused, aged between 25 and 36, are residents of various villages in the Chittapur taluk of Kalaburagi district. 

Acting on a tip-off, the officials targeted Survey No. 30 of the Baggalmadu Section-4 forest area, where the accused were allegedly trespassing. Forest personnel had patrolled the area before carrying out the operation on Saturday night.

During the raid, the officials seized the charred meat of two peacocks, utensils used to cook the meat, 12 live turtles, six country guns, five gunpowder bags and seven mobile phones.

One of the accused produced a licence for the firearm, while the other five were found to be illegal country-made guns.

Yadgir range forest officer Burhan Uddin said, “We received information that some people were hunting peacocks in the Baggalumadu area of the Yadgir forest range. They were carrying six guns. We conducted a raid, arrested them and produced them before the court on Sunday, which remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days.”

A case has been registered against the accused under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, on charges of illegally killing peacocks. 

The case follows another incident in which the Bengaluru Forest Patrol unit busted a group that was hunting peacocks and selling the meat as halal in Chikkaballapur taluk. The officers seized about 3kg of peacock meat, bones and feathers from the farmhouse of Sorain Begum. 

Sadiq Pasha, the brother of the plantation owner, is the prime accused in the incident. He allegedly sold peacock meat and supplied their bones regularly for divine purposes, claiming supernatural powers. The accused was arrested under the Wildlife Protection Act. 

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