B William of Mathikere, Anbalagan from Chennai and Sathyan alias Satthy from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu are the arrested. They were performing at a public function when the police, alerted by wildlife activists and accompanied by Forest staff, raided the venue and seized two pythons, three rat snakes and three cobras from them.
Praveen Ramaswamy, founder trustee of wildlife NGO Vanya, said: “We heard people speak about snake dance at the park and went to check. We saw the three men dancing with pythons on them, which is prohibited under the Wildlife Act.” The men said they had a few more snakes in their possession, he said.
When contacted, Govinda Raju, Range Forest Officer of Yelahanka, rubbished the report on ‘snake dance’, but confirmed that three youth were arrested and produced before the court.
But, the photographs in Deccan Herald’s possession show one of the arrested dancing with pythons on his body.
During interrogation, the trio said the reptiles were caught from Satyamangala forests along the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.
The programme was organised by the residents’ association of Yelahanka New Town as part of Dasara celebrations. The trio have been booked under Sections 9, 12, 39, 40, 48 and 49 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, for illegal possession of wildlife, displaying them in public and capturing them from wilderness.
The arrested are now in Parappana Agrahara central prison and the snakes were handed over to the Forest cell of the BBMP where they are undergoing treatment, sources said.
