Sharpshooter’s son may land in trouble for shooting T1 tigress

NAGPUR: Prima facie findings of post mortem of T1 seem to indicate that Asghar Ali Khan, son of Hyderabad-based sharpshooter Nawab Shafath Ali Khan, may land in trouble for shooting down the tigress.

A seven-member team was formed for the post-mortem. It included regional manager FDCM JP Tripathi, NTCA AIG Hemant Kamdi, wildlife biologist Milind Pariwakam, Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT), wildlife vets Dr Ajay Poharkar, Dr Shirish Upadhye, Dr PM Sonkusle, and Dr BM Kadu.

The team found lungs of T1 were punctured. Forest officials are claiming a dart was first fired at T1 in an attempt to tranquillize it and it was followed by shooting a bullet in self-defence when she charged at the team members. “When the tigress charged at the team it should have been face-to-face and the bullet should have hit on its head, shoulder, or chest but it clearly hit the left side and went out of right side,” sources said.

“This shows it was shot from the left side. The dart is also on the left side. It seems to be a deliberate attempt to shoot it down,” they said.

“Had Asghar not intended to kill T1 and did not have a permit, why did he go inside a reserve forest with a gun, that too without an accompanying vet as required by NTCA protocol,” they asked.

A wildlife crime expert also said, “If the tigress charged at the team T1 should have been shot from the front and not from the side.”

According to sources, the dart appears to be manually pierced into the left side of T1 ostensibly to show it was darted.

However, a vet who looked at the carcass said that the dart needle did not seem shot by the gun as it had not penetrated deep.

However, CCF PG Rahurkar denied the allegations. He said, “Our team members have stated that dart was fired first to sedate the tigress.” Official report of post-mortem is awaited and may take a few days to be ready.