Two arrested for hunting langur

India: State forest department has arrested two persons for allegedly hunting a langur (Presbytis entellus) in the forest area of Junnar in Pune district.

The accused have been identified as Eknath Gopal Aswale (29) and Ganpat Shimge Hilam (40), both residents of Junnar taluka.

A press release issued by the forest department Friday stated that common langur (Presbytis entellus) is a protected species under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

 Acting on a tip-off, the forest department team arrested the two persons on Thursday. The two accused, along with a few more persons, hunted a langur in the forest area at Dhalewadi village in Junnar, about 25 days ago.

“We had been searching for the accused based on the information we had received….The accused had chased the langur and killed it using gulel (catepult). They then cut the body of langur into pieces and divided among them for eating,” said Deputy Conservator of Forest Jayaramgowda R.

An offence has been lodged against the accused and search was on to arrest their accomplices who to were allegedly involved in the crime.

The two were produced before a court in Junnar, which remanded them to the custody of forest department till June 24 for further investigation.

(Source: The Indian Express)