Four sentenced to 3 years for leopard skin smuggling

Dehradun: The chief judicial magistrate's court in Almora has handed down a three-year rigorous imprisonment sentence to four individuals for smuggling leopard skin. The accused, Desh Deepak Malda, Manoj Bachkheti, Chandan Singh and Basant Lal were arrested by the police in 2019. Additionally, the court imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of the convicts.Forest officials said that the skin belonged to a 10 months old leopard. The four accused confessed to killing the animal. "Imposing severe punishment on the culprits is a must to instil fear in those who harm wild animals," the court said. TNN