Notorious tiger poacher Dariya convicted in Katni, MP

Posted in June 2009

A notorious tiger poacher called Dariya, son of Juglal, was convicted by the Katni courts in Madhya Pradesh today, for a term of three years rigorous imprisonment and a Rs. 10,000 fine. Dariya had been arrested by the Katni Forest Division with information and assistance provided by WPSI on 27 November 2008. He had in his possession a tiger spring trap, a leopard spring trap, a cheetal skin, antlers, a spear and other poaching equipment. While sentencing Dariya, the Judicial Magistrate, Mr Umar Shankar Agarwal, observed that the traps appeared to have no other use other than killing wild animals, as leopard hairs had been identified on one of the traps by forensic experts. This is a unique judgement where conviction has been granted on the seizure of spring traps. The prosecution of the case was handled by Katni-based WPSI lawyer, Ms Manjula Srivastav, and the case investigation was done under the guidance of Mr A.K. Baroniya, the Divisional Forest Officer of Katni.

Dariya - who is not to be confused with the tiger poacher of the same name that was arrested in Corbett in April 2008 - has previously been booked in four different tiger and leopard poaching cases in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In July 2000, two leopard skins were seized from his residence by police in Pinjore, Haryana. In November 2005, he was arrested again at Katerniaghat, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve, with poaching equipment and served a five and a half month jail term in Bahraich, UP. After being released from jail, he was an accused in a case involving the seizure of a fresh tiger skin in December 2006 on the Indo-Nepal border. The tiger is thought to have been killed in Valmiki Tiger Reserve. Dariya is an absconder in this case and it is expected that he will now be taken to Bihar to stand trial there.

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