Czech scientists get bail

A local court in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district granted bail to two Czech scientists on Friday who were arrested last month for allegedly...

A local court in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district granted bail to two Czech scientists on Friday who were arrested last month for allegedly trying to smuggle insects caught from a national park in the district.

Chief Judicial Magistrate, Darjeeling, U K Nandi granted conditional bail to Petr Svacha and Emil Kucera on Friday, their counsel Dipak Chandra Rai said.

“They have been directed to produce two sureties of Rs 3,000 for the bail. They have also been barred from leaving Darjeeling before submission of prosecution report, to deposit their passports and to appear before the police once every week,” Rai said.

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Forest officials arrested Svacha (51) and Kucera (52) on June 22 when they caught them with some 200 beetles, butterflies, moths and other rare species of insects collected from the Singalila National Park, about 90 km from Darjeeling.

The Czechs, stated to be entomologists and associated with the Czech Academy of Sciences, were first produced in the court on June 23 and their bail petition was rejected. They were remanded in judicial custody.