Ramesh Chand, the forest officer, was imprisoned at the order of Kanchanpur Police chief, Madhav Nepal. Chand was released after four hours at 10pm on Thursday. [break]
Chand said he was arrested without a warrant.
“We were the ones who caught the smugglers, why were we put in jail?” questions Chand.
Chand, along with other forest officials, had caught Man Bahadur Kunwar of Bajhang and Santosh Aidi of Pipalkot from Rajdhani Guesthouse, Mahendranagar, with rhino tusks worth Rs 2 million. The forest officials were not able to catch three others from the smuggling group, who had fled from the scene.
The two who were caught were immediately handed over to the custody of the wildlife reserve of Majhgaun. Chand was arrested while returning from the sight of the incident.
Chand had arrived at Mahendranagar from Darchula two weeks earlier for the mission.
“We arrested Chand because we received information that he had kidnapped locals,” said DSP Nepal.
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