Berhampur: Forest officials have arrested a 31-year old man for allegedly poisoning a leopard to death in Chakapada area under Kandhamal district’s Tikabali forest range, around a year ago.A 164 cm by 41 cm leopard skin was seized from the possession of Pankaj Kanhar, a resident of Ringibadi, near Bramanapad in Chakapada police station limits, foresters said on Sunday.Acting on a tip-off, a group of forest personnel, led by Tikabali range officer Rashmiranjan Swain, caught the accused red-handed, while he was standing at Kalaradadi, near Bramanapada with the leopard skin on Saturday afternoon. The accused was arrested after he confessed to poisoning the big cat, they said.“On interrogation, the accused admitted that he had poisoned the big cat on May 15 last year, after it killed one of his cows,” said Phulbani divisional forest officer Pratap Kottapalli. “In retaliation, the accused had decided to hunt the big cat by poisoning the carcass of the cow. Next day, the leopard came to the cow-shed to eat the carcass but was found dead nearby,” said Phulbani assistant conservator of forests Swetaleena Sahu.Foresters said the accused along with his uncle, Basant Kanhar, de-skinned the leopard’s carcass, buried its meat and bones in the forest and hung the leopard skin from iron nails to dry it, she added.Sahu said they could not retrieve the buried meat and bones of the leopard, as the incident occurred almost a year ago. They, however, recreated the crime scene, said the ACF. The co-accused uncle died, she added.
