Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh district is back in the spotlight, this time over a case that peels back layers of superstition, greed and cruelty towards voiceless animals. Inside a locked room of a private hotel, a major international deal for the dried organs of a protected wild animal was about to be sealed — until a timely move by the Forest Department foiled the attempt to keep this dark trade hidden.
How the Plot Unravelled
The first clue to this network did not surface in Azamgarh itself but hundreds of kilometres away in Dehradun. The input received from there revealed that a very large international deal involving banned wildlife organs was about to take place in room number 209 of a private hotel located within the Sidhari police station area of the district. The moment the information was confirmed, a joint team of the Forest Department and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau swung into action and carried out a sudden raid on the hotel.
What the Search Turned Up
The thorough search of the room produced a haul that stunned everyone present. The team recovered 24 dried hemipenes of the rare monitor lizard (goh), whose value in the international market is being pegged at crores of rupees. Two accused were nabbed on the spot — Ajay Pratap Singh, a resident of Delhi, and Dilip Rai, a resident of Mau.
The Dark Market of Superstition and 'Hathjodi'
What the traffickers admitted during questioning is enough to send a chill down the spine. The accused confessed to the illegal buying and selling of these banned animal remains. These very organs are known as 'hathjodi', and were allegedly meant to be used in tantric rituals, vashikaran and various kinds of occult practices. In this market driven by occult beliefs and superstition, the demand for 'hathjodi' remains intense, which is why its price is estimated in crores at the international level. In a bid to get rich overnight, these mute creatures were being brutally hunted and their body parts trafficked.
The Action That Followed
The Forest Department registered a case against both accused under the relevant sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and sent them to jail in judicial custody. DFO Azamgarh Akanksha Jain said that, based on the information received, the department had learnt of the trafficking of protected wildlife at a private hotel in the district. Acting on the available input, the team conducted the raid, during which 24 hathjode of the banned monitor lizard were recovered.
