Forest Department arrests two for hunting and eating monkey

Forest Department arrests two for hunting and eating monkey

Pune: In a shocking incident, a 29-year-old youth allegedly killed a monkey in the forest, cooked its meat and had a party. The incident took place in the Pune district in April but came to light after their photographs shared on social media went viral based on the tip-off the Forest Department zero them down.

The Forest Department identified the arrested person as Eknath Gopal Oswale (29), a resident of Phulwade in Ambegoan, Pune and Ganpat Shimge Himal (40), a resident of Dhalewadi in Junnar, Pune. Both have been arrested under the relevant sections under 9 and 51 of The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 in which if convicted they will be behind bars for three years and a fine of Rs 25,000. The duo was arrested on Thursday and produced before the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

The Forest Department team working under the guidance of Vivek Khandekar, the chief conservator of Forest, managed to zero down them.

He said, “Our team worked on a clue of photographs, and later local residents confirmed the incident. We have more than 20 pictures in which their entire act has been captured.”

Speaking to Sakal Times, Jayaramegowda R, Deputy Conservator of Forest, said, “The incident took place two months back, but we were working on a few inputs but did not get any. Later the photographs of such went viral based on which we zero down them in June. As the two arrested are daily wage labourers never have a fixed place to stay, so it was tough to trace them and arrest them. 

“In the meantime, the police had busted out an illegal country-made liquor being prepared and sold in such premises due to which the duo was underground.”

“We arrested Ganpat staying at Dhanewadi area in Junnar near Mina River, and the prime suspect in our case is Eknath who had come to visit the village to meet relatives and met his friend Ganpat. Eknath wanted to party and have meat for dinner.” 

The investigative officer Ajit Shinde, Range forest officer, said, “Considering the soaring prices of chicken and sheep they plan to hunt wild animals in forest areas which will save money. They found Presbytis Entellus, better known as Common Langur on a tree. They chased the animal along with their stray dog and were asked to follow it; they targeted him with stones; they injured him and killed him. Later chop down into portions which they share to their other neighbours.”

He added, “He added post-party they burnt the skin of animals and also chopped the bones into pieces, which they threw and chewed while eating meat. We are probing the case and soon filing a strong charge-sheet against them for their brutal act.”

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