Man accused of selling mongoose hair paint brushes let off

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gorakh Nath Pandey acquitted North Delhi resident Pankaj Gupta of the charges of dealing in banned wildlife products owing to the Wildlife Department's failure to prove that brushes were made up of genuine mongoose hair.

"From bare perusal of the testimonies of Wildlife inspectors (WLIs) V B Dasan and R R Meena, it appears they are not quite sure about the genuineness of the recovered brushes as having been made up of the mongoose hairs.

"No doubt a WLI can also identify the genuineness of a wild life substance but it cannot be assumed to be conclusive as in some cases the wildlife lab has given different/negative opinion in regard to the alleged wild life articles... Accused Pankaj Gupta is accordingly acquitted of the charges levelled against him," the judge said.

Acting on a tip-off, police personnel and Wildlife Enforcement officials in August 2006 had conducted a joint raid at the business premises of accused Gupta and had recovered 213 pieces of mongoose hair paint brushes from there, the prosecution had said.

The counsel for Gupta had contented that as the brushes had not been subjected to a test by a science lab, their genuineness was doubtful.

Gupta had contended he had been falsely implicated in the case and that nothing was recovered from his possession.