7 arrested with 2 peacock carcass, 6 firearms: Officials

Seven men were arrested after forest officials allegedly caught them hunting peacocks in the Baggalumadu forest area near Motanahalli in Yadgir taluk on Saturday night, officials said on Sunday. Two peacock carcasses and six country-made guns were recovered.

The accused, identified as Ningappa, Vasudeva, Kareppa, Kantappa, Yallalinga, Basavaraj and Mallappa, are aged between 25 and 36 and are residents of different villages in Chittapur taluk of Kalaburagi district.

Yadgir range forest officer Burhan Uddin said the department acted on information about a group allegedly hunting inside the forest. “We received information that some people were hunting peacocks in the Baggalumadu area of the Yadgir forest range. They were carrying six guns. We conducted a raid, arrested them and produced them before the court on Sunday, which remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days,” he said.

During the inquiry, one of the accused produced a gun licence. The remaining five firearms were found to be illegal country-made guns, Uddin said.

Forest personnel had kept watch over the area after receiving the information before carrying out the raid. The two carcasses were recovered along with the firearms, which officials suspect were used for hunting.

The forest department has registered a case against the seven under relevant provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Investigators are examining whether the men were involved in similar hunting activities earlier, tracing the source and ownership of the firearms, and looking into whether others were involved in the alleged hunting operation.