Ranchi: Three men were arrested with body parts of monitor lizards at a city a hotel, forest officials here said on Friday. The accused Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, 64, his son Avinash Anand,32, and Arun Ram, 34, were arrested late on Thursday based on a tip-off from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB).They have been booked under various sections of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (amended 2022) pertaining to hunting, possession and sale of Schedule-1 animals.“We recovered 30 dried copulatory organs of monitor lizards from the hotel room,” Ranchi divisional forest officer (DFO) Shrikant Verma said.Mishra, a BJP worker, had contested assembly election in 2014 on a ticket by the now-defunct Jharkhand Vikas Morcha –Prajatantrik, which was headed by former CM Babulal Marandi.Forest officials said a tip off was received from an officer of WCCB on Thursday morning about some individuals staying at Natraj Hotel in Daily Market, for the purpose of illegal trafficking of monitor lizard limbs.
