Youth arrested for posting photos of snake killed by him

INDORE: A youth was arrested and sent on judicial remand by an Ujjain court for killing a cobra and posting pictures with the dead reptile on social media site Instagram.

Sayyed Faiz Ali, 22, a resident of Datana in Ujjain district had posted the photographs with a tagline ‘hunted by me’. The post went viral and came in the notice of senior forest department officials in New Delhi.
The message was immediately sent to chief wild life warden in Madhya Pradesh and subsequently the forest staff of Ujjain was asked to act.

A team led by sub-divisional officer of forests HS Khinchi arrested Ali from Datana, around 12 km from Ujjain on Thursday. He was produced before court and sent on judicial remand till September 8.

Divisional forest officer Rajeev Mishra said Ali was charged under Section 9 of Wild Life Protection Act that prohibits hunting of wild animals falling under Schedule 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The forest officials believe that the snake was killed with a stick, though he was seen holding a rifle in the photographs posted by him.

The forest department plans to seek remand of the accused soon to further the investigation.