India is home to more than 70% of the world’s wild tiger population. Both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh host some of the most critical tiger reserves and corridors. File.
| Photo Credit: SRIRAM MA
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (September 17, 2025) asked the Union government, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and State of Maharashtra to explain the presence of a well-organised, transnational poaching syndicate threatening the survival of India’s tigers in their own heartlands of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai took serious note of a writ petition filed by petitioner-advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal who highlighted the report of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Maharashtra Government which has unearthed the existence of a well-oiled network of tiger poachers and international traffickers in the big cat’s body parts and trophies in violation of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
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India is home to more than 70% of the world’s wild tiger population. Both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh host some of the most critical tiger reserves and corridors. The court has also issued formal notice to the National Tiger Conservation Authority.
The petition referred to media reports of poaching gangs in central India catering to clientele in Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, and providing illegal products like ‘bone glue’ made by pressure-cooking tiger bones and prized in Southeast Asia as a traditional remedy.
Mr. Bansal has sought a CBI investigation into the inter-State menace of poaching.
“The case reveals a massive financial trail involving hawala operations and cross-border smuggling, thereby raising issues not only of environmental concern but also of national security and international obligations. By its very nature, the case goes beyond the jurisdiction of any single State or forest department and calls for the involvement of investigative agencies, particularly the CBI so as to unearth the entire transnational syndicate,” the petition submitted.
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), a central government agency, had issued a “red alert” in February to field directors of tiger reserves across the country, urging them to intensify patrolling to prevent poaching of big cats after several of them found dead, especially in the Rajura forest range at Chandrapur in Maharashtra.
Published – September 17, 2025 02:14 pm IST
