New Delhi  : The court of the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) at Tis Hazari issued non-bailable warrants against the notorious wildlife trader Sansar Chand in four cases pending against him on Saturday 21st May 2005 . The cases related to his involvement in wildlife offences starting from 1988 to 1996.

On the date of hearing on 21 st May 2005 , Sansar Chand did not appear in court and strangely no lawyer appeared on his behalf when the hearing was taken up that morning. Later in the day, a lawyer appeared and moved an application for exemption for personal appearance in these cases. However, the court did not allow the application and issued arrest warrants.

The prosecution pointed out that arrest warrants have also been issued against Sansar Chand in an appeal case in Ajmer against a jail sentence of five years awarded in April 2004 by a trial court in Ajmer . Sansar Chand has not appeared even once in the appellate court in Ajmer , which resulted in a non-bailable warrant against him. Yet another arrest warrant is pending against him for non-appearance in court in a seizure which took place in Delhi in 1993.

Sansar Chand has also stopped appearing in a Haridwar case and is evading arrest in all cases against him in recent seizures. Mr. Ashok Kumar , Senior Advisor and Trustee, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) is a public witness in this case and deposed before the court on April 2005.

Though he is absconding in all these cases, Sansar Chand will have no option but to surrender before the ACMM, Tis Hazari, Delhi . This could well be the day the authorities are waiting for.

Lawyers of WTI appear in all these hearings in various courts and provide assistance to the court.