Teacher by profession, smuggler by trade: Tiger skin racket busted in Odisha

A shocking revelation has emerged from Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district, where a government schoolteacher was arrested on Wednesday as the mastermind behind an illegal tiger skin smuggling racket.

The Forest Department apprehended seven individuals and recovered three rare tiger skins from the possession of the accused persons.

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According to official sources, a government school teacher identified as Raisen Chaparai, posted in Badasahi block of Mayurbhanj, has been arrested for leading a racket allegedly involved in smuggling big cat hides.

Acting on intelligence inputs provided by its Similipal special task force (STF), the Forest Department carried out surprise raids in Udala, Badasahi, and Betanoti localities, uncovering a major wildlife trafficking network.

Out of the seven arrested, Chaparai is believed to be the kingpin.

The operation led to the seizure of at least three skins of the leopard species, highly valued on the black market. Initial arrests of two suspects during the raids provided information that led to the identification of other accused individuals.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the racket has links to Chhattisgarh, pointing to a wider inter-state network.

Alarmingly, the accused lured people by claiming that sitting on a tiger skin while performing rituals could fulfill their desires, thus driving demand through superstition and misinformation.

Forest officials suspect that more people may be involved in the racket and have launched further investigations to find out links, if any.

The incident has sparked outrage and raised concerns about how deeply wildlife crime networks have infiltrated even the public sector, including government educators.
“There is a wrong belief prevalent in this area that it is auspicious to worship tiger skin or teeth. However, this is a complete misconception. Some people had arranged a puja to ‘bring in wealth’. On being tipped off about this, we arrested a man from Balasore,” Deputy Director of Similipal South Division, Samrat Gouda, said in a presser.

“Based on the information gathered from the man, six more were held,” the senior forest official added.