Lucknow, Nov 26 (IANS) Three people have been arrested with skins of four spotted deer in Uttar Pradesh’s Balrampur district, near the India-Nepal border, a forest official said Thursday.
Acting on a tip-off, police and forest officials nabbed the three men Wednesday night along with the carcasses of the animals at Motipur forest of the Sohelwa wildlife sanctuary, some 200 km from here.

“The three, who are in their late 30s, have admitted that they have been in the poaching trade for the past six years,” Balrampur divisional forest officer (DFO) V.P. Singh told reporters.

The three also worked for a Nepal-based wildlife poaching gang and had clients in Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the official said.

Under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, killing a spotted deer is an criminal offence.

Spotted deer, popularly known as chital in Hindi, is the most common deer species in Indian forests. Its coat is reddish fawn, marked with white spots.