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Two arrested for killing Ranthambhor tiger cubs

JAIPUR: Two persons suspected to be the culprits behind the death of two male tigers by poisoning outside Ranthambhor National Park were taken into custody on Monday. The duo, Ram Khiladi, 45, and Mukesh, 25, have purportedly confessed to the crime as a reaction to the killing of two goats belonging to them by the felines which had been making forays into village Talawara during the past many days.

Both residents of Bhavpur hamlet near Talawara village, 15 km from the Park and 8 km from the forest boundary, were produced before the District Court in Sawai Madhopur and remanded to police custody. They have been charged under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, informed Chief Wildlife Warden of Rajasthan R.N. Mehrotra. Under Schedule I of the Act, killing of a tiger can invite imprisonment up to seven years.

Two male tigers born to Chitroli tigress, playing truant for some time, were found dead near Talawara on the border of Karauli-Sawai Madhopur districts on Sunday morning.

The post-mortem report said their death had taken place 48 hours before their carcasses were discovered. Aged around 22-24 months, the tigers had partly eaten from the flesh of one goat while the carcass of the other goat was found hanging from a tree.

The accused confessed to procuring “chlorophospate”, an insecticide used in preservation of seeds, from a shop at Khandar in Sawai Madhopur district. They also bought the syringe which they used for injecting the liquid into the flesh of two goats killed by the tigers earlier, Mr. Mehrotra disclosed.

Frustration and revenge appeared to be the motive behind the poisoning act, it was pointed out.

One litre of the liquid insecticide was injected into the flesh of two goats.

During questioning, the accused explained the killing of the two goats as the immediate provocation for the poisoning of the “intruders”; “The presence of the tigers in the neighbourhood of the village made it difficult for us to take out our cattle for grazing in the forests,” they reportedly confessed.

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Two arrested for killing Ranthambhor tiger cubs

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