Ten leopard skins and banned hunting equipment were recently recovered from an alleged poacher, Bhagwan Singh, in Uttar Pradesh’s Agra. However, within the secretive underworld where wildlife informants, poachers, and anti-poaching operatives intersect, Singh had acquired a fake identity: Salim. Forest Department sources allege that this false identity was cultivated by individuals linked to a prominent non-profit organisation to inject a communal angle into the investigation should he be caught by the authorities carrying out illegal activities.
Its work also includes acquiring and providing anti-poaching intelligence. Investigators, however, say otherwise. Wildlife SOS is a Delhi-based conservation organisation that says it has spent more than 32 years working in wildlife rescue, rehabilitation and conservation across 19 states and has assisted forest departments in rescuing more than 5.31 lakh animals.
In a strongly worded statement, the NGO “vehemently” rejected the allegations, warning that treating legitimate anti-poaching intelligence work as wildlife crime could frighten informants and whistleblowers away from helping enforcement agencies. The NGO called “attempts to vilify it a total travesty of justice”. Wildlife SOS says the incident is linked to anti-poaching intelligence gathering.
The story began in Agra. What happened next transformed a trafficking seizure into a much wider investigation. Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh personnel began working together. Information emerging from the accused was then matched against digital evidence collected during the investigation.
An operation there resulted in the arrest of four accused and the seizure of 10 leopard skins, according to Rajora.
It said it possesses records and substantial proof to rebut the allegations, and stressed that it is fully cooperating with the investigation. “This is shocking, and we are deeply concerned,” Satyanarayan said in the organisation’s statement. “Following discussions with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and the UP Forest Department, our teams were immediately sent there,” Rajora told NDTV.
