Wildbuzz: Mystery of the missing diary

A handwritten diary in Punjabi was seized from Gill Farm, it carried standard entries of sale proceeds from exotic breeds that went up to a few lakhs and the names of purchasers; apart from that, it carried entries claiming that the author had killed 170 wild boars, and 60 bara singhas

By Vikram Jit Singh

PUBLISHED ON JUN 26, 2021 11:56 PM IST

Exotic dogs, cats and birds sell like hot cakes nowadays. While these breeds are derived from imported stock, the breeding and sale of such creatures by unregulated livestock entrepreneurs carries a collusive risk. Wild Indian species can be peddled under the guise of “legal business” in exotic species and advertised via the phenomenal though unmonitored reach of trans-national social media platforms. This came to the fore when a team of the Ropar wildlife preservation division raided Gill Farm situated bang on the busy Ropar-Nawanshahr highway and astride the biodiversity-rich Shivalik foothills.

The raiding team seized 19 chicks of the Alexandrine parakeet, a near-threatened species. Among the assortment of exotic species reared at the farm for sale through Whatsapp deals, the raiding team unearthed two pieces of meat suspected to be of wild Indian species. The meats were later dispatched to the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, for forensic examination to establish if the species fell under the Wildlife (Protection) Act (WPA), 1972.

The raids carried out on May 3, were a consequence of tip-offs provided by Nawanshahar honorary wildlife warden Nikhil Sanger and Parbhat Bhatti from the NGO, Jagriti, and not the outcome of intelligence developed by the wildlife department. The raids unearthed a very disturbing piece of evidence. A handwritten diary in Punjabi was seized from Gill Farm. It carried standard entries of sale proceeds from exotic breeds that went up to a few lakhs and the names of purchasers. Apart from that, it carried entries claiming that the author had killed 170 wild boars, and 60 bara singhas (sambars), including seven in one day. The diary notes the sale of two eagles for ₹1.25 lakh and mentions ‘teetar’ (wild partridges) also. However, follow-up investigations and challan preparations currently underway by the Hoshiarpur wildlife division have taken a mysterious turn: the diary has gone missing in a subtle indication of its explosive value.

An excerpt from the missing diary detailing 170 boar and 60 sambar kills. (PHOTO: PARBHAT BHATTI)

Hoshiarpur DFO (wildlife) Gursharan Singh told this writer: “We did not receive the diary from the Ropar raiding team. Neither is the diary mentioned in the seizure memo submitted to us.” However, this is contradicted by Bhatti. “We video-recorded the proceedings during the raid. Sanger handed over the diary to range officer Bhupinder Singh of the Hoshiarpur division, who was summoned to the spot following the raid. The diary was not mentioned in the memo due to an oversight,” Bhatti told this writer.

Fearing a leak, the then chief wildlife warden, Punjab, VB Kumar, had reposed faith to get a secret raid conducted in a team constituted under the Ropar division rather than the Hoshiarpur division under whose jurisdiction Gill Farm actually falls. Only the raid’s follow-up was allotted to Hoshiarpur division. Seized of the matter now and noting the value of the missing diary, Ropar DFO (wildlife) Monica Yadav on Friday directed Bhatti and Sanger to furnish full evidence of the seized diary, including the photographs and videos of it, to the Punjab chief wildlife warden and herself. It was Yadav who had constituted the successful raiding team from the field staff of Ropar division.

That the questionable practises indulged by Gill Farms were flourishing for a few years under the noses of multiple law-enforcement authorities is evidenced by numerous posts on the Facebook page of ‘Gill Farm Balachaur’, which (till the time of going to print) openly displays videos and photographs in captivity of banned Indian species such as rose-ringed and Alexandrine parakeets, black kites and a dead wild boar. The page advertises the sale of various non-veg pickles, including that of boneless meat of ‘soor’ (boar) and the price of a parakeet chick as ₹2,000.

The owner of the farm, Gurvinder Singh Gill, was booked under Sections 9, 39, 49, 50 and 51 of the WPA, 1972, and is currently on bail. The case against him has been lodged at the court of judge Balwinder Kaur Dhaliwal, sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Balachaur, and is pending the filing of the challan by the Hoshiarpur division. The 19 parakeets seized from Gill Farm were released into the wild following an order from Nawanshahar sessions judge KS Bajwa on Tuesday.

When contacted by this writer for his version, Gill responded by sending an expletive-laced SMS on Friday night. Gill later issued a threat on Saturday morning when this writer persisted in his efforts to secure his version: “You are not a journalist, you are a fake. You are trying to blackmail me. You come to my farm and I will teach you a lesson.” With these final words, Gill abruptly cut off the cellphone conversation.

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Wildbuzz: Mystery of the missing diary - Hindustan Times

Wildbuzz: Mystery of the missing diary

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