Two arrested for poaching Indian Gaur in Karnataka's Belagavi

The Forest Department officials have arrested two persons on charges of poaching an Indian Gaur, a schedule-1 species, near Khanapur in Belagavi district, Karnataka on Wednesday.

The accused, David Figer and Hasan Bepari were arrested at Nandgad near Khanapur while they were trying to sell the meat. The officials have recovered at least eight kg of raw meat and approximately three kg of cooked meat from the accused.

Speaking to DH, Belagavi Deputy Forest officer Harsha Bhanu G P said acting on a tip-off, the department officials raided the house of the accused and seized the meat. He said the accused were planning to sell the remaining meat to someone in Dandeli.

Khanapur RFO Kavita, whose team made the arrest, said it seems the accused had killed the gaur, the largest bovine in the Indian wild, on Tuesday night and was planning to sell it on Wednesday.

The officials have so far not recovered the weapon used for hunting. A source in the department said the third accused in the case is absconding and the search is on for him.

Harsha said they have not ruled out if the accused are part of a larger group that has been poaching animals in Belagavi and Uttara Kannada districts.

"We will integrate them to see if they were involved in similar incidents earlier also," he said. The two have been sent to judicial custody.