Panaji, Sep 17 (IANS) After initially claiming that a “preliminary” forensic report had ruled out poaching of a tiger in a Goa wildlife sanctuary, the state’s top forest official has now said that he has not seen the forensic report yet.
Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Shashi Kumar now maintains that he had made the statement only on the basis of a letter faxed to him by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).

“We have not received the report yet. I have only received a letter from the Dehradun-based institute (WII) stating that the samples sent to them do not belong to a tiger. My statement was based on the letter I had received from the WII last week,” Kumar told reporters in his Panaji office Thursday morning.

He added that the forest department would wait for the detailed forensic report from the WII before taking a final decision on the investigation.

The latest development adds another twist to the tiger poaching controversy in Goa, which has simply refused to die after a tiger was allegedly snared and shot dead by poachers at the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary in North Goa.

Kumar said that the WII’s findings were made on the basis of blood stain samples found on the leaves near the place, where the tiger’s carcass was butchered and burnt by the poachers in order to cover their tracks in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary. “Along with the blood stains, we had also sent a part of a tooth for forensic examination,” Kumar said.

Kumar ruled out rumours of any political interference in the tiger poaching probe, which has seen the arrest of five persons for allegedly killing the tiger in February this year.

Incidentally, two senior forest range officials in the forefront of the tiger poaching case have been booked by the state police for allegedly beating two persons accused of killing the animal and trying to destroy evidence.

The role of the forest department top brass has been under the cloud ever since the tiger poaching incident came to the fore some months back.

Senior forest department officials, including the CCF, had dismissed reports of a poached tiger in the Mhadei wildlife sanctuary in North Goa, until a local newspaper published photographs of the snared and poached tiger, which was allegedly taken by the poachers.