Nagpur man accused of moving tiger carcass into MP gets bail after five months

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh high court granted bail to Dham Singh Khandate, a plantation watcher of Maharashtra, who was arrested by the MP forest officials for allegedly shifting the carcass of a tigress across the border. Khandate was in custody for over five months.
This first-of-its-kind case strained relations between the two states as investigators of MP believe the carcass was moved to shift the onus of the death on MP.Maharashtra has denied this claim.
Tigress Sharmilee was found dead on December 11, 2019, near Khandasa village, a few hundred yards from the Maharashtra border. MP forest officials say there were bullock cart wheel tracks, indicating the tigress was carried from the Maharashtra side of the border.
On January 31, Khandate was arrested on the basis of intelligence inputs for allegedly moving the carcass from Deolapar range (Maharashtra) to Khawasa range in MP’s Seoni. He had been in jail since then.
During a hearing on his bail plea on Thursday, Khandate’s counsel argued that the challan has already been filed and he does not have any criminal antecedent. “He has been falsely implicated. There is not an iota of evidence to connect him with the incident,” he said, arguing that the owner of the bullock cart, Laxman Tekam, has denied Khandate ever took the cart from him.
“The date of the incident doesn’t match with the time when Tekam allegedly gave the cart to somebody. There is no material at all on the strength of which the applicant was made accused,” the counsel said.
MP forest officials opposed the bail, claiming that a deputy ranger wanted in the case is absconding. “Since certain accused persons are absconding, it is difficult to bring any prima facie convincing material before this court against the applicant at this stage. The call details of the applicant will also be collected, for which time may be granted,” the state counsel argued.
After hearing both sides, the court granted bail to Khandate, citing that since the challan has already been filed and the applicant has been in prison since January 2020, his custodial interrogation doesn’t appear necessary.
“In this Covid-19 era, the conclusion of trial will take time. If the co-accused is absconding, then that cannot be a reason to keep the applicant in custody. The applicant does not have any criminal record. Thus, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, I deem it proper to grant him bail,” the court ruled.
Khandate was arrested in connection with Forest Crime No. PRO No. 37337/09 for offences punishable under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. MP officials refused to comment on the case, saying it was sub judice.
On the other hand, the MP forest department has decided to reopen investigation into whether some tigers found dead close to the Maharashtra border, especially in Pench Tiger Reserve in Seoni, were dragged over from the other side, like Sharmilee’s carcass allegedly was.
Sharmilee was counted as the 22nd tiger death of Madhya Pradesh. But since it had died in Maharashtra, MP’s toll will change. After Khandate’s arrest, the Seoni forest department had issued a statement on how its investigations reached across the border.