After remaining elusive for two decades, a fugitive who had allegedly committed a wildlife offence in Bhitarkanika national park in Odisha, finally fell into the forest personnel's net.
Niranjan Dalai had allegedly laid a trap and killed a spotted deer in 1997, officials said adding forest personnel had retrieved the venison (deer meat) from his house in Rangani village near the national park.
"Since the offence, Dalai was on the run. We were on the lookout. Acting on a tip off, Dalai was arrested from his house today," said Forest Range Officer, Akshaya Kumar Nayak.
To evade arrest, the accused had left for Delhi and had got himself engaged as a plumber there, Nayak said.
The accused booked under sections 9, 27, 29 and 35 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, has been forwarded to the court.
The poachers often trap the mute animals by spreading nylon ropes in the mangrove forest and its nearby areas and kill the deer. Some poachers also use trained dogs to kill the spotted deer, forest officials said.
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