Ramagundam police on Wednesday arrested the remaining 16 of the 20 accused in the tiger poaching case in Mancherial district, which had come to light in January.
Four accused had been arrested by the Forest Department earlier.
Ramagundam Commissioner of Police V. Satyanarayana, at a press conference, announced the arrest of the accused and seizure of a car, a jeep, ₹ 4.8 lakh in cash and a bundle of wire and other material used to electrocute the tiger and wild animals from them. The arrests, which came while the accused were moving from Mancherial to Indaram crossroad, signal completion of investigation into the case.
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The Commissioner of Police said that among those who had played a key role in the case were two animal trackers, Md. Shareef and Tokala Rajalingu of Chennur and the president of the Chandrapur (Maharashtra) based NGO, Tiger Hunting and Association, Nandakishore Pimple, who had tipped off the Forest department about a tiger skin being sold in Mandamarri. Among others arrested were three local poachers and four brokers.
Mr. Satyanarayana said the trackers had noticed the movement of the tiger in Shivaram and informed the local poachers who set up an electrified wire on the probable route the big cat would have taken to river Godavari. The first day of setting up with wire trap, January 6, saw only a wild boar being electrocuted but the tiger got caught the next day.