The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court has issued notice to Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) Nagpur, its assistant manager Vasant Charpe, Regional Forensic Science Laboratory (RFSL) and principal chief conservator of forest AK Misra over the killing of tigress Avni, also known as T1. The tigress which reportedly killed 14 people was gunned down by a private shooter Asghar Ali.
A NGO working for wildlife conservation had urged the high court to amend its PIL for constitution of special investigation team (SIT) to probe illegal killing of T1 tigress from Pandharkawda.
The Earth Brigade Foundation through counsel Shreerang Bhandarkar claimed that preliminary offence report by the FDCM had left out essential details. The NGO claimed that RFSL in its ballistic report had demonstrated inclination to give a clean chit to the shooters.
A division bench comprising Justice Zaka Haq and Justice Vinay Joshi while allowing amendment application issued notices to newly added respondents, asking them to reply within six weeks.
The applicant has argued that the lack of details indicates that FDCM and its manager have been conspiring with the authorities of the forest department to cover-up their misdeeds. And also that the findings submitted by Maharashtra State-Level committee are similar to that of National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
