BHOPAL: Forest officials on Friday rescued two out of four marsh crocodiles from a small pond within the residential premises of former BJP MLA Harvansh Singh Rathore in MP’s Sagar district amid income-tax searches. The remaining two crocodiles will be rescued on Saturday.
Head of forest (HoF) Aseem Srivastava said a case will be registered under Wildlife Protection Act after an investigation. “We have been informed about the crocodiles by I-T department. They have been seized,” Srivastava told TOI.
I-T officers initially remained mum on this and even denied that any wildlife was found inside Rathore’s residence before an old footage of the crocodiles went viral on social media, said sources.
HoF Srivastava said the crocs will be medically examined and released into a dam with court’s permission.
The pond is within the boundary of their residence but Rathore’s family has disowned it, saying they had donated it to temple priests long ago. They also said that they had written to the forest department several times to remove the crocodiles from the pond.
Sources in the forest department confirmed that a letter was sent by the family in 2014. “Now, there are complications. First, we have to decide who owns the pond. Second, if the family had requested the forest department to shift these crocs, the onus is on the department as well,” said a forest officer, requesting anonymity.
Rathore’s premises were searched by the I-T following raids on locations of bidi and construction businessman Rajesh Kesharwani in connection with alleged tax evasion amounting to Rs 150 crore. Gold and cash were seized from the residences of Rathore’s brother and relatives, who were also partners in the business.
The I-T department raided three locations in Sagar on Sunday, uncovering an alleged tax evasion racket. Documents related to benami properties were also found.
Rathore, a former MLA from Banda in Sagar district, was vying for the BJP district president post. His father, Harnam Singh Rathore, was a minister in the Uma Bharti government.
The searches on the properties of Rathore, Kesharwani, and their associates have revealed assets worth over Rs 200 crore, say sources. Authorities have seized 14 kg gold, and Rs 3.8 crore in cash.
While searches on Rathore’s premises were completed on Tuesday, the operation at Kesharwani’s properties is on.
