Raipur, Oct 13 (IANS) Three people, including a college student, were arrested while trying to sell a leopard skin in Chhattisgarh's capital, police said Saturday.
Additional Superintendent of Police Lal Ummed Singh told IANS: "In a well coordinated operation a city police team led by Sub-Inspector S. Barik arrested three people from Mahoba Bazaar area while they were trying to sell a leopard skin" for Rs.1.5 lakh.
"We have recorded the statement of the three accused and are investigating whether any larger racket is working behind the illegal trade of wild animals' skin," he added.
The three accused have been identified as Deepak Gupta of Ramanujganj (Chhattisgarh), Harinarayan Singh and Manjeet of Jharkhand. Deepak is a student of Ambikapur College in Chhattisgarh's Surguja district.
The accused had brought the leopard skin into a bag and were about to sell it. However, they were caught by the police - acting on a tip off.
Notably, the trade of skin of wild animals is on the rise in the state as only few days back two tiger skins were seized in Mahasamund district, some 70 km east of state capital Raipur, which were allegedly smuggled in from neighbouring Odisha.
On an average, skin of a leopard fetches Rs. 2 lakh in market.
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