Poachers have, of late, been targeting tigers outside protected areas instead of the core zones. Involvement of Myanmar-origin traffickers on either side of the border has enabled seamless coordination between traders. The arrest of serving and former personnel from enforcement agencies has heightened concern among authorities. Authorities need to keep a watch on traditional hunting tribes, infamous for poaching.

These are some of the key findings of a multi-agency special investigation team (SIT) formed to look into the high-profile poaching case in Rajura-Chandrapur near Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. The report, accessed and analysed by Newslaundry, has unearthed a vast network of poachers, hawala agents, and mule agents spread across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and even the neighbouring country, Myanmar.

Investigators suspect that around 100 tigers were poached from different parts of the country by this syndicate in the last four to five years, with their body parts trafficked to Myanmar before possibly reaching China and Vietnam.

The five-member SIT was formed by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change in January this year, and led by Rudolf Alvares, deputy director at Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB). 

The other four members were Hemant Singh, assistant inspector general of forests at the National Tiger Conservation Authority; Swetha Boddu, deputy conservator of forests at Chanda division in Chandrapur; Anand Reddy, deputy director (core) at Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve; and Ritesh Sarothiya, in charge of Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Task Force. Boddu headed the Maharashtra SIT. The report, signed by the five members, was submitted to MoEFCC on June 20.

So far, 15 people have been arrested and are in judicial custody at Chandrapur, while 14 others, including Myanmar nationals, are absconding. Enforcement agencies in India are seeking the help of Interpol to nab the Myanmar nationals. The Enforcement Directorate has also registered a case and is probing financial transactions.

The case is at the trial stage and a chargesheet was filed in March this year.

Vulnerable on the fringes

Poachers from traditional hunting communities from central and northern India have targeted tigers outside protected areas or tiger reserves, the report said.

“As a result of tiger conservation efforts, especially in Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve at Chandrapur, the neighbouring territorial forest divisions saw a rise in tiger estimates since 2018, with about 60 percent of tigers in the district currently outside TATR. These tiger-bearing areas have also been designated as tiger corridors of Eastern Vidarbha Landscape (EVL) by WII (Wildlife Institute of India). The tiger corridors are getting fragmented and thinner, which creates advantages for poachers to target and kill," the report read.

The SIT report flagged the lack of safeguards in areas adjoining tiger reserves or protected areas.

What unravelled the syndicate was the arrest of six people from the fringes of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve in January this year. One of them included Ajeet Siyalal Pardhi, 40, an infamous poacher native of Katni district in Madhya Pradesh.

To prevent poaching outside protected areas, the SIT has recommended: strengthening and expansion of intelligence networks; special cyber cells for tiger reserves; creation of special tiger strike forces just like in Madhya Pradesh; authorisation to obtain call data records; monitoring movement of hunting communities, and a centralised wildlife crime database, among others.

The SIT report raised concerns about how ethnic kinship on either side of the Indo-Myanmar border has made coordination between traders and traffickers seamless.

“The arrested traders/traffickers have their origin in Myanmar (erstwhile Burma). Hence, they are comfortable moving into the said area and are aware of the landscape, routes, market and connections to illegal transport and trading of tiger body parts,” the report read. Of the 15 people arrested, six are from Mizoram and Meghalaya. At least six others from Mizoram are wanted. Most of them have Myanmar origins.

Ning San Lun, the alleged kingpin, was born in Myanmar and holds an Indian passport, according to investigators. Ning, 41, was arrested from sensitive East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya on February 7. She is married to Kaplian Mung, who serves in the Assam Rifles. Kaplian was arrested from Manipur.

The report has raised alarm with the involvement of two serving and former Assam Rifles personnel. Besides Kaplian, Lalneisung Mhar from Shillong was arrested on January 30. Lalneisung was with the Assam Rifles till 2015. He worked under Ning and was tasked with disbursing payments to poachers. Lalneisung is confessed to have paid to at least 20 wildlife traders and poachers, shows the report.

The SIT report has also put traditional hunting tribes under the scanner. 

“In this case, the involvement of both the infamous poaching communities of Central India (Pardhi/Baheliya) and Northern India (Bawariya/Bawri), who are experts in the poaching of tigers, primarily through the leg-hold trap, is evident. Both gangs jointly poached numerous tigers from central India, south India and the terai arc landscape.” 

The SIT recommended close monitoring of the movement of these communities.

But how did investigators catch alleged kingpin Ning San Lun from Meghalaya?

One investigator told Newslaundry that tiger skins had slipped from being the poacher’s trophy catch. “What we discovered was that buyers in Myanmar were mostly after tiger bones, destined for use in traditional medicine in China and Vietnam. The skins were included in consignments only as proof of authenticity,” the investigator said.

Surviving on meagre means, lakhs in bank accounts

But how did investigators unravel the case layer by layer? A hutment in a forest area at Chandrapur in Maharashtra provided the first clues. 

At the outset, it looked like a “run-of-the-mill” arrest. On January 25, one Ajeet Siyalal Pardhi was arrested from a hutment – rustled up with four bamboos and a tarpaulin – from Chanda forest division in Chandrapur by the Maharashtra forest department. He was with his family, including three sons, surviving on meagre means. 

“He was interrogated but was evasive in his response. We checked WCCB records and found that he was facing several similar cases,” Boddu told Newslaundry. 

Ajeet, a native of Katni district in Madhya Pradesh, is an infamous poacher. During the search, forest officials recovered weapons used for tiger hunting, skinning tools, etc. The next day, five women were also arrested. But Ajeet’s three sons – identified as Gatiyan, Ekilal and Surya – fled the scene and are still absconding.

What surprised Maharashtra forest officials was the discovery of a few bank passbooks. It didn’t occur to the investigators that a family surviving under a tarpaulin would have bank accounts and transactions running into lakhs. One bank account had a transaction of Rs 9 lakh. The money trail shows that the Pardhi family would withdraw money from Bank of Baroda or Punjab National Bank accounts from Katni. Payments to the Pardhi family members were made through one bank account run by a 50-year-old former Assam Rifles serviceman living in Shillong, Meghalaya.

A team led by SIT member Anand Reddy arrested Lalneisung Mhar from Shillong on January 30.

“Upon further investigation of Mr Lalneisung Mhar's bank account, it was revealed that he had done a large number of monetary transactions to various accounts belonging to people involved in poaching and trafficking of tiger body parts, including people from the Bawaria and Pardhi communities,” the SIT report read.

Lalneisung’s interrogation revealed tiger bones and skins were delivered to him by two truck drivers from Haryana – identified as Rajkumar and Naresh Sagar. He further revealed that these body parts were delivered to 41-year-old Ning San Lun, the alleged kingpin. She was arrested from East Khasi Hills in Meghalaya on February 7 by the Maharashtra Forest Department under SIT supervision.

The SIT report said Ning sold the contraband to Hau Lian alias Pupalian, a Myanmar national, and his associate Dwe Kung. She told investigators that “the entire operation was performed with the support of her husband Mr Kaplian Mung (serving in Assam Rifles)”. Posted in Manipur, Kaplian was arrested on March 2.

Investigation revealed that financial transactions from Myanmar were conducted through alleged hawala agents Zamkhan Kap of Mizoram and Go Lian Tuang from Myanmar.

Modus operandi 

Tiger body parts including skins and bones were transported by trucks (by public transport on a few occasions) to Guwahati. From Guwahati, the consignment was taken to Shillong before being sent to Myanmar through Zokhawthar border town in Mizoram.

According to investigators, Lalneisung Mhar would check the consignment in Guwahati before bringing it to Shillong. Here, Lalneisung and Ning San Lun would measure and weigh the contraband for transportation.

After receiving photographs of contraband from Ning, hawala agents in Myanmar through their contact in Mizoram would transfer the money to Lalneisung Mhar, who would disburse it to poachers and traffickers.

According to the SIT report, Lalneisung also confessed to having paid Sonu Singh Bawaria. Sonu, whose father Ranjit Singh was a notorious poacher, was arrested in February in another poaching case at Gadchiroli. Ranjit was a close aide of Sansar Chand, who wiped tigers off the Sariska map, according to an investigator.

The SIT also unearthed an "enormous amount of money trails". These transactions were done through bank accounts, debit cards and UPI.

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