Nagpur: In a sensational incident, sleuths of Forest Department raided the house of Ravindrababa Atram, former Vice President of Gadchiroli Zilla Parishad, and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition. However, Atram got alert and went underground even before the swoop by the officials of Forest Department of Alapalli, Aheri. Subsequently, the absconding Ravindrababa Atram has been slapped with a notice asking him to appear before the Forest Department officials for questioning.
The raid was the outcome of seizure of four kilogrammes of cheetal (spotted deer) meat and arms in Dandepalli village of Aheri Taluka on Sunday. A person named Anandrao Kachma Tarem of Dandepalli village was arrested by the raiding forest officials. During the questioning, Tarem disclosed that the former Vice President of Gadchiroli Zilla Parishad Ravindrababa Atram made a kill of the spotted deer and the meat was being transported in his bullockcart. After the disclosure, the sleuths of Forest Department, led by Sub-Divisional Forest Officer Ravindra Agrawal, visited the spot where the cheetal was hunted. After ‘Panchnama’ the officials searched for empty cartridge used in killing the species but could not find it. Thereafter, the Forest officials procured a search warrant and swooped on Atram’s residence on Tuesday afternoon. A team of policemen was aslo deployed during the raid.
The raid led to seizure of seven guns including four air guns, one .22 gun, one 12-bore gun one foreign made gun and 60 live cartridges from the bungalow of Ravindrababa Atram. Other material such as antlers of different species were also recovered in the raid.
