TNN | Mar 18, 2015

NAGPUR: Investigators probing the poaching case have learnt notorious poacher Rahul Gulabsingh Gondthakur (Kuttu) alias Kuttu Chhiyalal Pardhi killed five tigers and not three as previously believed. One of the two more tigers killed is suspected to have been poached in Gaikhori near Umarzari and another in Wadsa in Gadchiroli.

Earlier, Kuttu had claimed to have killed three tigers ­ one in Seoni near Ramtek and Paoni and Gaimukh in Bhandara divisions. However, wildlife experts say 35-year-old Kuttu's is the second generation of poachers that must have removed many more tigers from the region in the past 20 years.

Kuttu and his accomplices had laid four steel traps in compartment number 138 (Sawri Nullah) and 146 (Bhandara Road) on May 3, 2007. These areas, which were part of Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) then, are now under New Nagzira Wildlife Sanctuary.

FDCM had seized the trap and registered an offence but did little to track the culprits and hence the offence was compounded. Now when the accused has been nabbed, it is not keen on investigating the matter as the area has been handed over to wildlife.

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