The incident occurred in the first week of last month when the three men went near the Line of Actual Control(LAC) after 43 horses they were tending had strayed into the Chinese territory. Only five horses had returned on their own.
The three -- Tundup Durjay, Paldan Dorjay and Mawang Hamgyal -- were apprehended by China's People's Liberation Army(PLA) on December four and taken to their camp. They were handed over to the Indian Army after the flag meeting on December 12.
They told the police that Chinese PLA had charged them Rs 300 per horse as 'feeding charges' for the three horses on which they had gone in the hunt for other animals, official sources said today.
The three were kept in custody as a precautionary measure and would be released after completion of legal formalities and complete debriefing.