Hunters Gallery

There is even a case pending in a Maharashtra court where a Malabar Hill resident is accused of possessing a chandelier made of antlers of four types of antelopes.

The most high profile case, of course, is the 1998 one against Bollywood actors Salman Khan and Satish Shah. They are accused of shooting a black buck in Rajasthan. Two police and one forest cases were registered against the five in Jodhpur. Six years down the road, one of them is near the final verdict.

Another Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt was charged with shooting a leopard in Karnataka in the 1990s. He was acquitted.

IT’S not just former royals and Bollywood stars who are accused of violating the wildlife act. Politicians are not far behind.

The most famous case, of course, is of a dinner hosted on

October 3, 1998, for then Andhra Pradesh irrigation minister

T. Nageswara Rao at Marlakunta village in Khammam district.

K. Venkata Satyanarayana, a political activist, was accused of hiring hunters to shoot wild animals for an exotic dinner. Guests included the late Speaker of the Lok Sabha G.M.C Balayogi. The accused denied any wrongdoing. According to the Andhra Pradesh wildlife department, the case against the accused and two others was dismissed but the department has filed an appeal that is pending in the Khammam district court.

Even as tigers disappeared from Sariska, there has been a wave of unaccounted for tiger skins seized from the house of politicians and the rich and not-so-famous.

On April 5 this year, Corbett National Park authorities seized a tiger skin and antlers from the cattle shed of BJP office bearer Anchal Kumar in Kaladhungi in Nainital district. The skin was reportedly buried under a pile of hay. Kumar was arrested and is now out on bail. His version: a political rival planted the skin.

Last month a tiger skin, two deer skins and a deer were found in Mohammed Shahabuddin’s ancestral home in Pratappur village.

On May 5, 2001, a raid on the house of Malabar Hill resident

C. Katrak resulted in the recovery of a tiger skin, three to four reptile skins including a python skin and small pieces of ivory. He is now accused of illegal possession of banned articles under Schedule I and the case is pending in a magistrate’s court in Maharashtra. Denying the charges, his defence is that he received the articles from a third party and that it was transferred in his name. About the same time a black buck skin was recovered from the house of another Malabar hill resident in Mumbai.

Hunting for pleasure hasn’t quite died out.

Says Manish Moghe of the Bombay Environment Action Group: ‘‘Hunting is going on frequently in Maharashtra especially in the Western belt. People hunt for pleasure and community hunting also takes place in some areas.’’

A forest official in Dehra Dun says hunting around the town continues but never comes to light. Undocumented cases include that of a prominent businessman who was accused of hunting in Hastinapur sanctuary in the Nineties.

A few years ago, Sharmila Tagore and Pataudi reportedly went on a two-day hunting spree in the Hokera Wetland Reserve in J&K, accompanied by two ministers of the state. But apparently they had obtained a shooting licence.

Then there are those who travel to Africa, where hunting is a legal sport. And those left behind are not ready to call it quits.