The crime branch of Delhi Police have apprehended four people for possessing and dealing with horns of rare white rhinoceros usually found in African countries, valued at Rs three crore in the international market. As per the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, greater one-horned rhino is listed under Schedule I which prohibits the capturing, killing, poisoning, or trapping of wild animals.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sanjay Kumar Sain, said, the cops received a tip off about some persons dealing in illegal trade of rhinoceros horns and to unearth the whole nexus, a cop was send as a decoy customer.

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On January 9, the decoy customer finalized the deal for Rs one crore and the team raided a flat in Lajpat Nagar where four persons were found with two horns of rhinoceros. All were asked whether they have any documents pertaining to legal possession of the horns but they could not provide any such documents, Sain said.

The official mentioned that the seized horns were inspected by a wildlife officer and opined that prima facie these seem to be the horns of rhinoceros. Therefore, the recovered two horns of rhinoceros were taken into police possession and the four were taken in custody. During the investigation, it transpired that a suspect Deepak Sharma had two horns from the last 90 years from the time of his grandfather and had preserved them as being rare and antique article belonging to African white Rhinoceros.

Since Covid-19 pandemic, he has been trapped in a business loss and owns Rs 35-40 lakh of debt. He knew that the horns are rare and having a price more than Rs 3 crores and hence, due to his poor financial conditions, he decided to sell these antique horns to earn handsome money.

For this, he contacted Suresh Kumar who is ‘Mahant’ at Uttam Nagar to sell the horns for Rs one crore who further contacted Sant Ram who came in contact with Anil Kumar Sethi to sell the horns with a value of Rs one crore. He later came in contact with the source who further informed the Crime branch.

The cops have registered an FIR under relevant sections of BNS at the Crime branch police station.