Tiger skin seized, four smugglers nabbed

Chandrapur: A tiger skin, worth around Rs 15 lakh, was seized and four interstate smugglers were nabbed by the sleuths of the local crime branch during a late night picketing on Gondpipri-Ashti road on Tuesday. The accused had brought the tiger skin from Telangana and were planning into sell it in Chandrapur. The police have handed over the skin and the accused to Dhaba forest range for further investigation.
Police sources informed that the LCB received a tip-off about tiger skin being smuggled from Telangana into Chandrapur via Gadchiroli district. Accordingly, a team lead by LCB in-charge PI GR Kankale laid a check point near Vitthalwada village on Gondpipri-Ashti road. At around 10 pm, the four accused coming on a motorbike from Ashti side were intercepted and the tiger skin was recovered from them.
All the four accused — Dattu Yelmule and Tulshiram Aloney from Tadpalli village, Kisan Yerabathi from Peddapalli in Adilabad district and Ashok Imadchetti from Chelpur in Warangal district in Telangana — were arrested.
Police sources claimed that the tiger skin is worth Rs 15 lakh in the international market. It was full trophy of tiger skin with all 18 nails on its paws and four canines. The head of the 140 inches long hide (from nose tip to tail end) was stuffed to make it look like roaring. While the border edges of the skin was sieved with welt of a black cloth, its underbelly too had khaki cloth lining.
Sources in the forest department informed that the skin is more than 15 years old trophy. The accused reportedly claimed to have purchased it for Rs 3,000 from somebody in Telangana. The department, however, has not ruled out the possibility of the accused having stolen the trophy and were taking the skin to Chandrapur to sell it at higher price.