India
Probe trail links NGO chat to smuggled elephant
The Indian Express··28 Sept
A 2022 WCCB ivory case in Jaipur led investigators to chats on an accused's phone about Suraj Pal's elephant, saved under SOS.Baigo.Agra. The Indian Express found that number belongs to Wildlife SOS conservation director Baiju Raj. An accused said a female elephant was smuggled from Nepal in 2020 and sold to Pal for Rs 70 lakh.
Prism
What It Means For You
- Wildlife SOS said Pal worked as an elephant keeper until 2016 and it cannot comment on later activities attributed to him.
- CEO Kartick Satyanarayan told the paper he has no knowledge of the purported chat records.
- Three men arrested with about 30 kg of ivory in March 2022 are out on bail with trial pending.
What's Happening
- Accused Nashir Ali told investigators he smuggled a 35-40-year-old elephant through the Hathiheva Nepal border in 2020.
- Ali said the animal was sold from a Nepal hotel owner to Dinanath Verma for Rs 40 lakh, then to Suraj Pal.
- A former WCCB official said the agency may have dropped cross-border smuggling leads unknowingly.
Other probes involving Wildlife SOS
- Madhya Pradesh arrested two Wildlife SOS employees in August over alleged leopard poaching in Shivpuri-Morena.
- The Supreme Court granted Satyanarayan interim protection on September 21 and asked him to appear on September 28.
- Investigators told the paper they had raised questions about the NGO's rescue methods since at least 2007.
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