Notorious tiger poacher Papa in net

He was arrested while smuggling teak wood from Himawad Goapalaswamy Temple on Sunday. During interrogation the accused admitted to killing a tiger by strangulation in January last. So far, he has poached four tigers.

In April 2009, a forest team led by Assistant Conservator of Forest Sunil Panwar had arrested a gang of poachers and seized a tiger pelt.

Further interrogation disclosed that the pelt was sold by Papa alias Papaiah of Haggadalla village near Gopalaswamy Betta and Pulagi Mahadeva of Melukamanahalli village.

Based on this information, Antarsanthe RFO A V Satish had arrested Papa in October last year. He admitted to having killed three tigers.

He along with his relative Govinda had poached four tigers and sold them to the son of a local politician for Rs 10,000.

Judicial custody

Papa and his gang members  were remanded to judicial custody but were later released on bail in January, this year.  Within 12 days of his release he had poached another tiger.
Tiger pelts are very much sought after in Hong Kong, Malaysia and China.