MillenniumPost
Bengal

CID detains two with bags full of venomous snakes

Kolkata: The state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday detained two persons with three bags full of venomous snakes like Kalah, Chandrabora and others from Howrah station. Among the persons intercepted by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of CID was Debanjon Mitra who is the son of noted herpetologist and wildlife conservationist Dipak Mitra. The bags that were seized from the possession of Debanjon and his associate Gopal Kaiputtor had 32 sankes.
"The raid was conducted on the basis of a source information that the bags were being transported to Lucknow via Kumbha Express on Thursday afternoon. Accordingly, a team nabbed the duo. They have been illegally doing snake trade since the end of 2015, as per information of the state Forest Department, a senior CID official said. Debanjon is a resident of Hindusthan Park under Gariahat police station while Gopal is a resident of Badu under Barasat police station. The duo has been handed over to the Forest department
The Central Zoo Authority had cancelled the license of Calcutta Snake Park owned by herpetologist Dipak Mitra in August 2015, following which the state had sealed the park. The decision of CZA was the outcome of an investigation by CZA after several allegations of animal cruelty and trafficking surfaced in the park at Badu. The park at that time had around 300 reptiles mostly snakes which were shifted to other places.
The CID sleuths, however, informed that Mitra's family was carrying on illegal trafficking even after the park was sealed.
Next Story
Share it