AHMEDABAD: In a major breakthrough in the lion poaching case in the Gir sanctuary, the only abode of the Asiatic lions, the Criminal Investigation Department (Crime) police of Gujarat have arrested Sarkashlal, believed to be the kingpin in the poaching racket.

Sarkashlal, who was picked up from his home State of Madhya Pradesh, was produced before the Una court on Friday and was given four-day police remand for further investigation.

Police sources indicated that Sarkashlal may actually have been picked up about a week ago but this was not disclosed by the police.

He had already been taken to Junagadh and the two spots in Babariya range in the Gir forest where three carcasses each of the killed lions were found on March 3 and March 30.

17 people picked up

The recovery of six carcasses of the endangered species in Babariya range and two more near Palitana in Bhavnagar district earlier this month, had stunned the Gujarat forest and police authorities and the case was handed over to the CID (Crime) for investigation. The police picked up a group of 17 people, including about 15 women and children, from a slum area in the small town of Una on the periphery of the sanctuary, and later three more persons from Bhavnagar. Intensive questioning of the women and children revealed that they worked for Sarkashlal, involved in tiger poaching in Sariska and other sanctuaries in the country.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Friday constituted a seven-member "Wild Life Protection Task Force" with headquarters in Gandhinagar for the protection and conservation of the lions in Gir sanctuary.

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