Overview
- The court issued notice to the Union government, CBI and NTCA, and also sought an explanation from Maharashtra on claims of an organised poaching syndicate in the Maharashtra–Madhya Pradesh landscape.
- Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati was asked to take instructions from central agencies as the bench considers the plea filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal.
- The petition relies on a June Maharashtra SIT report alleging a well‑oiled network moving tiger parts through routes to Myanmar and Southeast Asia, supported by a money trail involving hawala and digital transactions.
- The filing highlights that a significant share of tigers use unprotected corridors and territorial forests outside reserves, a gap flagged earlier by a WCCB ‘red alert’ after multiple tiger deaths in Chandrapur.
- The plea cites arrests and seizures of skins, bones, weapons and financial records as evidence of a wider racket, and the bench listed the matter for further hearing in about four weeks without ordering a CBI probe yet.