Alwar (Rajasthan), January 24, 2011: A person was sentenced to three years imprisonment by the Court of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate – II, Alwar, last Friday, for poaching a tiger from Sariska Tiger Reserve.  

The accused, Ramu Koli, reportedly set up leg traps, killing a tiger in Ghankamala Beat, Akbarpur range, on May 13, 2004, about eight months before the news of the local extinction of tigers from Sariska rocked the nation. He was arrested in April last year. 

“The Court took a mild stand against Ramu Koli, and awarded him the minimum sentence as the case was his first offence. He was also fined 20,000 rupees,” said Koushal Bhardwaj, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) lawyer who assisted the prosecution.

Three of Koli’s accomplices in the case - Kaliya, Baliya and Ram Pratap were arrested in 2004 and trial initiated against them. “Proceedings against his accomplices in this case are also on-going. They have several other cases pending against them in Alwar and Jaipur,” added Bhardwaj.

The case was investigated by Uday Ram, Range officer, Akbarpur, Sariska TR.