Haridwar: Uttaranchal Forest Minister Nav Prabhat, wildlife and forest officials, and several journalists were assaulted by shopkeepers here on Sunday during a raid on a shop illegally trading in animal parts.Forest officials recovered a huge amount of tiger claws from the shop in the Burra Bazar area of the town. The officials had been tipped off about the clandestine operations of this shop during the interrogation of two alleged poachers. The two suspects had been caught in the Satyanarayan area of Rajaji National Park with leopard skins, tiger claws, bones and snakeskin in their possession. They said they had sold 57 tiger claws and 20 tiger teeth to a trader of the Burra Bazar area. This gave enough reason for the officials to raid the shop.

The Uttaranchal forest minister, Mr Nav Prabhat, was informed of the development immediately. He promptly decided to drive down from state capital Dehradun so that he could be personally present during the raid. The raiding party was accompanied by TV cameras and journalists.

The shop owner was taken by surprise and the team was able to seize tiger claws and bones from the premises. But when the team tried to take the shop owner into custody, his brother raised a hue and cry and hundreds of shopkeepers of the area immediately swooped on the shop and physically snatched the arrested man from the raiding team. The crowd then turned its ire on the journalists, especially television crews who had filmed the incident.

An argument subsequently ensued between the shopkeepers and the minister and forest officials. The quarrel soon turned rough and the latter were beaten up. The minister and the officials had to flee for their lives all the way to the state guest house about a kilometre away.

Hauls of wildlife products have become a regular feature in Uttaranchal, which was carved out of Uttar Pradesh as a separate state in November 2000.