International golfer Jyoti Randhawa was arrested from a protected area inside a forest reserve in Uttar Pradesh's Baharaich district, about 250 kilometres from Lucknow on Wednesday on charges of poaching.
According to forest officials, Randhawa and another person were spotted by a team of forest guards inside a protected area in the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in the wee hours of Wednesday. Randhawa's minor son was also with him, sources said.
The guard's informed senior officials and the duo were later arrested. A point 22 bore rifle, 80 live cartridges, skins of wild boars and sambar deer, which is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List, were recovered from him, the officials said.
Sources claimed that Randhawa had gone hunting in the protected area inside the forest reserve. Randhawa had a farmhouse at Kharia village in the district and he often stayed there with his friends.
UP minister of state for forests Upendra Tewari said that Randhawa was arrested on charges of poaching. ''Hunting of sambar deer is a crime.....a case has been registered against him and he is currently being questioned by forest officials,'' Tewari said.
Randhawa is an acclaimed golfer and figured in the top hundred players in the world.