New Delhi: The world finally got to see the face behind many a poaching operations in Indian jungles, when Sansar Chand was produced in the court of Manoj Jain, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi at noon today. Sansar Chand has been remanded to police custody for ten days during which he will face interrogation by India’s premier investigating agency the CBI.CBI’s application for seeking permission to interrogate and arrest the accused was seriously resisted by the defense counsel. After a long hearing, the court was pleased to grant police custody to the CBI for ten days in the case registered with the Kamla Nagar police station, Delhi.

More important is that at the initial stage of the hearing, the court allowed the CBI to interrogate the accused for 20 min. After the interrogation, the matter was reheard and the court was shown the disclosure statement of the accused.

The counsel for CBI contended that to unearth the crime committed by the accused and his organized syndicate and also keeping in mind the seriousness and magnitude of the matter, a police remand of Sanchar Chand for ten days was necessary to unearth the procurement of skins and derivatives and to establish the chain of events right from the inception stage i.e. from poaching to its final circulation in the market.

The matter is now fixed for 11th July, 2005 after the ten-day custody of Sansar Chand. The court also permitted the defense counsels a legal interview with Sanchar Chand for ten minutes. The court also directed that the accused would be medically examined every 48 hours and his counsels would be permitted to meet him for ten minutes during his medical examination.

During the interrogation the defense counsels Mr. Anil Sehgal and Mr. P. K. Dubey were permitted to accompany the accused but it was also directed that they would not come within audible distance. The court clarified that it will be entirely their job to keep a track of the accused and the investigating agency and that CBI was not under any obligation to serve any notice upon them during the period of police custody.

With public pressure building up amidst concern for vanishing wildlife and the recent CBI blitz in apprehending criminals across all quarters, Sansar Chand’s days under remand hold hope for caging more of his ilk.