Shocking: Karnataka releases poacher after one phone call

In a shocking display of political connections, the kingpin of a poaching gang, arrested by the Karnataka CID, was released by the authorities, reportedly after receiving a call from 'higher ups'. 

The kingpin, named Muniyandi, was caught after a large-scale police operation that involved both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. 

On 9 January, the forest wing of the Karnataka CID, with the support of wildlife activists, arrested  P Natarajan, a Forest Ranger at Aroor, Dharmapuri Division in Tamil Nadu's Forest Department. 

Based on his statement, the wildlife team went to Tamil Nadu, and with the help of forest officers from Chennai, arrested Muniyandi red handed on 12 January when he was trading 15 parakeets. 

Muniyandi (40) was caught in Chennai. The paperwork was prepared by the Wildlife Headquarters and everything was set to produce Muniyandi before a court. 

However, Deputy Wildlife Warden, Chennai,  Gitanjali was asked by her higher officials to alert the Range Forest Officers to return to the HQ without producing the accused before the court.

"Muniyandi was a repeat offender as per HQ records in 2006 and by Muniyandi's admission. Thereby he has to face a minimum of 3-7 years imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 25,000,"  a wildlife activist told Asianet Newsable. 

Purushotham, a CID Forest Cell Inspector from Karnataka, added that in Karnataka, the officials somehow manage to get the accused to jail, but in Tamil Nadu, such feats are apparently "a bit difficult." 

For now, the Karnataka wildlife team has Raghu, Muniyandi's accomplice and the son of the Deputy Forest Range Officer, P Natarajan, from Dharmapuri in custody. 

• Poaching
• Karnataka