People forming opinion without knowing ground realities: Hunter Asghar Ali defends killing tigress Anvi

Nov 4 (AZINS) Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Sunday lashed out at the BJP-led Maharashtra government over the "ghastly murder" of man-eating tigress Avni, calling it a "straight case of crime".

Tigress Avni, who is believed to be responsible for the deaths of 13 people in the past two years, was killed in Maharashtra's Yavatmal on Friday as part of an operation. Avni is survived by her two cubs who are 10 months old.

She was shot dead by sharp-shooter Asghar Ali, son of controversial sharp-shooter Nawab Shafat Ali, at compartment no 149 of Borati forest under the jurisdiction of the Ralegaon police station.

Meanwhile, Asghar Ali Khan defended the decision, saying that the tigress was located at a place where three human kills had occurred. He said he was unhappy that they had to shoot the tigress and it would have been better if they managed to catch and tranquilise her.

Nawab Shafat Ali (Official Website)

He claimed people were forming opinions without knowing the ground realities.

He said: “A lot of people who have formed opinions, they are not aware of the ground realities. The situation there was different than what is projected. The ground was unfavourable. There was a lot of thick bushes and the visibility was restricted to a few feet where the tigress was moving. For tranquilising, you need a clear view. Any bushes, any trees, that deflects the dart. So we worked with all veterinary teams. We tried our best. One-and-a-half months, night and day, we made every effort possible humanly to tranquilise her.”

Khan added that the hunt went on for two years and said the experts had attempted tranquilisers in the past without much success.

Maneka Gandhi came down heavily on Mungantiwar for giving order to private marksman Shafat Ali Khan's son to carry out the hunting operation.

"Every time he has used Hyderabad-based shooter Shafat Ali Khan, and this time his son has also appeared in the scene illegally to murder the tigress," she said in a tweet.

"His son was not authorised to kill. This is patently illegal. Despite the forest officials being committed to tranquilise, capture and qurantine the tigress, the trigger-happy shooter has killed her on his own under orders of Mungantiwar," she tweeted.

"Shafat Ali Khan has killed 3 tigers, at least 10 leopards, a few elephants and 300 wild boars in Chandrapur, Maharashtra. He is a criminal known for supplying guns to anti-nationals and for a suspected case of murder in Hyderabad," she said in another tweet.

Who are Shafat Ali Khan and Asghar Ali?

Shafat Ali Khan is a known hunter from Hyderabad who, according to his official website, is often summoned, by officials to terminate ‘wild animals that terrorise rural communities’.

He became a bone of contention between Maneka Gandhi and former Forest Minister Prakash Javadekar in 2016. She had said: “The shooters hail from a family which comes from Hyderabad and they roam around the nation and kill animals. Such incident has taken place first time in Bihar. Such a massacre has never taken place, where deers which is a protected animal in huge numbers have been killed. The point which should be noted is that no one from Bihar, no head of any village or any farmer asked for the killing. And it is a matter of shame that they had to get shooters from Hyderabad to kill animals.”

Shafat Ali Khan has a history and in 1991-92 he was arrested by Karnataka Police for allegedly supplying weapons to Maoists.

The Hindu reported, “This came to light in 1992 when the Andhra Pradesh police arrested arms dealer Nawab Shafat Ali Khan, who was accused of supplying arms to naxalite leader Patel Sudhakar Reddy. According to the police, the naxalites had used their contacts with arms dealers to procure different kinds of weapons.”

He is quoted saying on his website: “India’s tigers, leopards, wild boars, blue bulls and elephants have increased far beyond the capacity of our forests, and the spill over is straight into human habitations. People living on the fringes of the forest are frustrated, angry and paranoid. They see wildlife as their enemy number one.”

Khan himself had famously said: “I belong to a royal family. I do this as social service. I kill tiger, I kill elephant to help poor farmer families. I tranquilise leopard, tiger, bear and so on as required. I give training in tranquilising (animals) to the forest department. I go to Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, basically wherever the government invites me.?

Khan also defended his son’s actions stating: “Ashgar Ali is a renowned shooter and conservationist. We made a lot of efforts for 38 days to capture the animal in hostile terrain. Asghar Ali represented Telangana in several national competitions and he is an excellent horseman."