Two leopard skins were seized from the Kolnara area of Rayagada district during a coordinated operation by the Rayagada Forest Department and Mumbai’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), resulting in the arrest of four individuals.
According to Ranger Kameshwar Achari, the arrested include two locals from Rayagada—Jisay Gamang of Anjarsing village in Putasing block and Mahesh Huika from Machkhunti area—and two others from Maharashtra: Prabhakar Nayak and Raj Kumar Gupta of Matinagar.
The accused were allegedly coordinating to sell the leopard skins, which were reportedly smuggled from Gajapati district to Maharashtra. Acting on a tip-off, the DRI tracked the suspects and alerted the Rayagada Forest Department. On August 30, officials apprehended all four individuals during the attempted sale.
Authorities recovered two tiger skins believed to be from animals aged between 5 to 7 years. The accused have been produced in court, and further investigation is underway, confirmed Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Ashok Pradhan.
