By RIA Novosti
New Delhi : An Indian man who won an award for his work in protecting migratory birds was caught red-handed poaching ducks at a lake in east India’s state of Orissa, the Times of India paper said Tuesday.
Dibakar Behera, head of a local anti-poaching organization, received the prestigious award for his initiative to protect endangered birds at India’s largest coastal lake, Chilika, in October 2007. Four months later he was detained with two dead birds in his possession at the same lake.
“He may have received the award, but no one is above the law. He committed a crime and should be punished,” a divisional forest ranger said.
The protectionist – turned – duck killer has been remanded in custody after a local court rejected his bail plea.
The newspaper cited residents of Chilika as saying that Behera “had been poaching birds for years, but the authorities failed to act on complaints and instead recommended him for the award.”