An employee of the conservation non-profit organisation (NGO) Wildlife SOS allegedly joined poaching networks under a false name and helped them poach at least 10 leopards, purportedly to raise funds by pretending to have infiltrated them to work as an informer, investigators said.
A court in Madhya Pradesh’s Shivpuri summoned Satyanarayan, but he failed to turn up on Monday. They alleged the NGO hired Bhagwan Singh, who was terminated from the Delhi Police, to get in touch with metal trap providers in Haryana and tribals in Sheopur for the poaching under the false name of Salim. She added that the investigators have strong digital evidence against them. “Now, we have written for issuing a look-out notice against him. Wildlife SOS called what it described as an attempt to vilify Wildlife SOS a total travesty of justice. It warned that misinterpreting legitimate anti-poaching intelligence work as wildlife crime could have grave consequences and a chilling effect on future enforcement.
The investigators said the arrested poachers in the case confessed to poaching 10 leopards from Kuno wildlife, Sheopur forest divisions, and National Chambal Sanctuary, after being lured into doing so.
Madhya Pradesh’s principal chief conservator of forests, Samita Rajora, said Bhagwan Singh alias Salim and Wasim Akram, an arrested accused, allegedly confessed to the NGO link and named Wildlife SOS co-founder Kartick Satyanarayan. Another notice will be issued to give him a chance to be heard,” Rajora said. “As torchbearers of India’s wildlife and forest resources, we protect, we preserve, and we plan for the health and welfare of creatures who are voiceless,” it said in a statement.
