MP: 15 members of trafficking gang get 3 years in jail for killing pangolin

A court in Katni in Madhya Pradesh has sentenced 15 members of an interstate wildlife trafficking gang to three years in jail for poaching a pangolin, a highly endangered species, nine years ago.

Katni's Dheemarkheda court Judicial Magistrate First Class Purvi Tiwari, in an order on Friday, also imposed fines varying from Rs 10000 to Rs 40000, totalling Rs 3.80 lakh, additional district public prosecutor Vinod Patel told reporters.

''Forest department officials had seized around 3 kilograms of pangolin scales from one Indal Singh Gaur in Salarpur beat of Dhimarkheda forest range. The scales had been extracted by boiling the carcass of a hunted pangolin. Based on Gaur's statement, 14 persons were held from Katni, Tikamgarh and Panna districts as well as Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh,'' Patel said.

Those sentenced in the case are Indal Singh Gaur, Ram Singh , Santan Gaur, Surendra Gaur, Ajit Singh, Daryal Singh , Raju Singh, Jaysingh Singh, Pratap Gaur, Mantu Gaur, Rajendra Singh, Guman Singh, Malkhan Singh, Rajendra Kuchbandiya and Shobharan Kuchbandiya, he said.

Pangolins are among the most trafficked mammals on earth for their scales, which is used in Oriental medicine, and meat. They are included in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, which signifies the highest level of protection against poaching and illegal trade.

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