Mumbai poaching case: Nine more metal snares recovered from Film City

One of the metal snares seen in Film City

The jawans of the Maharashtra Security Force (MSF) during their search operations inside Film City, and near the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) campus, have recovered nine more metal snares in the past four days. Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) authorities will also carry out a search operation in the park jurisdiction, and register a separate offense against the arrested accused, who had admitted to killing a fawn inside Tulsi Range.

Two more arrests
Two more people were arrested on the evening on January 8. Suresh Kindra, 34, and Janu Kharpade, 36, both from Sai Bangoda, work as safai kamgar in Film City. They are in two-day custody of the Forest Department (FD). The other six accused are in 14-days judicial custody and will be put up in Thane jail. Sources from the Forest Department said, "Based on the confession given to us by the accused, we came to know that some people work on contract inside Film City as sweepers and few of them might be involved in setting up snares."

An MSF personnel shows how an animal is trapped in a snare when his limb (symbolised by the stick here) is caught in it

SGNP's parallel investigation
Speaking to mid-day, Chief Conservator of Forest and SGNP Director Anwar Ahmed said, "We have come to know that the accused have confessed to killing a fawn inside SGNP near Tulsi range. So a parallel investigation will be launched into the same. We will also demand custody of the accused to extract more information." Anwar also said that they have been carrying out search operations for snares inside the park, and in coming days with the help of FD officials and volunteers, more searches will be conducted in the 103 sq km area of the park. "Those responsible for setting up snares will face legal action," added Anwar.

Snares removed
"In past three days we have found nine snares in the Film City area and of these, two were found adjacent to the BNHS campus. This is really shocking and I am happy that our team has cleared the snares and FD officials have been informed about the same. Our search operation will continue and we will be in constant touch with the FD," said an MSF officer.

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