Overview
- Forest officials conducted coordinated raids on Sunday in Yerawada’s Shanti Nagar, Lakshmi Nagar and Tingre Nagar after a confidential tip-off.
- The team rescued five Alexandrine parakeets and one rose-ringed parakeet, species protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
- An FIR has been registered against three suspects, who were allegedly selling the birds illegally from a Tingre Nagar residence.
- The accused are expected to be produced before a Pune court on Monday as the department seeks their custody to continue the probe.
- The operation was overseen by senior forest officers and led by range officers Hrishikesh/Rushikesh Chavan and Suresh Varak/Warak, while the public has been asked to share tips amid conflicting helpline numbers reported as 1926 and 1296.