Chamarajanagar: Leopard carcass found near Karikallu quarry, poisoning suspected
Chamarajanagar: Even before the district could recover from the shocking incident of five tigers allegedly poisoned in the Meenyam forest area of Malemahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary in Hanur taluk, another suspicious wildlife death has come to light, this time of a leopard.
The carcass of a 5 to 6-year-old male leopard was discovered on a rock near the Karikallu quarry in Kothalawadi, Chamarajanagar taluk. Officials believe the leopard may have died two to three days ago.
Adding to the suspicion, carcasses of a calf and a dog were also found nearby, raising suspicions of poisoning. Locals who came across the scene alerted the forest department.
According to sources a team of officials arrived and conducted an initial inspection.
The Bandipur dog squad was brought in for further examination. A post-mortem was carried out by veterinarians Dr. Wasim and Dr. Murthy, after which the leopard’s carcass was cremated. The forest department has registered a case and initiated an investigation.
Notably, in December 2023, two tigers were found dead under mysterious circumstances near the same Karikallu quarry.
Their decomposed remains were discovered several days later, and the exact cause of death was never determined. The latest incident involving the leopard has now reignited suspicions surrounding wildlife deaths in the area.
Top forest officials, including Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Hiralal, BRT Tiger Project Director Sripathy, Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Manjunath, RFO Sandeep, DRFOs Amarnath and Suresh, and others visited the spot and conducted an on-ground investigation into the matter.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
PM can't stand up to Trump despite repeated threats due to US probe into Adani: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi cannot stand up to US President Donald Trump despite his repeated threats due to "the ongoing US investigation into Adani".
The Leader of Opposition's remarks came after Trump said India has not been a good trading partner and announced that he will raise the tariffs on New Delhi "very substantially" over the next 24 hours because it is buying Russian oil.
In a post on X, Gandhi said, "India, please understand: The reason PM Modi cannot stand up to President Trump despite his repeated threats is the ongoing U.S. investigation into Adani."
"One threat is to expose the financial links between Modi, AA, and Russian oil deals. Modi's hands are tied," Gandhi alleged.
There was no immediate reaction from the government or the Adani Group on Gandhi's claims.
Billionaire Gautam Adani, 63, and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar, who is director at the group's renewable energy unit Adani Green Energy Ltd, have been accused of paying about USD 265 million in bribes to Indian government officials between approximately 2020 and 2024 to obtain lucrative solar energy supply contracts on terms that expected to yield USD 2 billion of profit over 20 years, according to an indictment unsealed in a New York court in November last year.
Earlier this week, Trump had said he will substantially raise US tariffs on India, accusing the country of buying massive amounts of Russian oil and selling it for big profits.
Hours later, India had mounted an unusually sharp counterattack on the US and the European Union for their "unjustified and unreasonable" targeting of New Delhi for its procurement of Russian crude oil.
Firmly rejecting the criticism, India pointed out the double standards in targeting it on the issue and said both the US and the EU are continuing their trade relations with Russia.
On Tuesday, Trump also said he doesn't know anything about the US imports of Russian uranium, fertilisers and chemicals.
Trump made the comments on Tuesday while responding to a question on India's statement on American imports of these commodities.
