Forest officials arrested a man who was found moving suspiciously in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. However, nothing incriminating has been recovered from him. According to the forest officials, Gopaldas Patel (45), who hails from Katni district in Madhya Pradesh, has booked for trespassing into a prohibited forest area. He has been remanded to three day forest custody. The fact that Gopaldas hails from the district which is home to the infamous Baheliya poachers has prompted the forest officials to launch a probe into the matter. Local forest guard intercepted Patel who was found moving suspiciously through Ghosri protected forest on Saturday. The accused belongs to a village under Rethi police station in Katni district of MP. He gave no credible reason for his presence in the prohibited area. Patel has been booked for trespassing the prohibited forest territory, said DFO, TATR, Girishi Vashishtha. On being questioned Gopaldas couldnt provide any solid reason for being in the prohibited area. Officials found his explanation that he used daily walk 20-30km unbelievable. He told the officials that he had reached Chandrapur from Andhra Pradesh and was walking through the forest in order to reach the highway from where he would have boarded any vehicle. Though Patel ostensibly does not belong to Baheliya community, his claims are suspicious. Hence, we have dispatched a team to his native village in MP for verification, Vashashitha said.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 12:31:46 +0000
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