The Madhya Pradesh forest department has announced a first-ever Rs 1 lakh bounty for information leading to the arrest of alleged tiger poacher Jaiy Tamang alias Pasang Limi, a Nepal-linked wildlife trafficker wanted through an Interpol red corner notice. This development comes after the Madhya Pradesh high court rejected his bail plea.
Rewards for Other Accused
Officials stated that rewards of Rs 50,000 each have also been declared for two other wanted accused: Nepal resident Tarke Lama alias Dharke Lama and Bangladesh national Al Haj Md Shafiqul Islam alias Rahman Talukdar, in wildlife poaching cases registered in the state. Forest officials noted that this is the highest reward ever announced by the department through its Special Tiger Strike Force (STSF) in a wildlife crime case.
Details of the Accused
According to a forest department notification, Tamang, son of Konchok Sonam Tamang and a resident of Delhi's Majnu Ka Tila area, is wanted in a poaching case registered on July 13, 2015. Tarke Lama, son of Sheering Kunga Lama and a resident of Namkha in Nepal's Humla district, is also wanted in the same case and carries a Rs 50,000 bounty.
Officials said Tamang, 47, is wanted by the STSF in connection with the poaching of a radio-collared tiger from the Satpura tiger reserve in Narmadapuram district and trafficking of pangolins from different parts of the state. Investigators suspect he acted as a key middleman between poaching networks operating in Madhya Pradesh and buyers linked to international wildlife trafficking syndicates.
Transnational Syndicate
Forest officials believe Tamang is linked to a larger transnational syndicate involving Myanmar and Chinese nationals allegedly engaged in poaching and smuggling tigers, smooth-coated otters, turtles, and other endangered wildlife species. Repeated seizures of tiger hides suspected to have originated from Madhya Pradesh in countries such as Nepal and Ethiopia had earlier pointed to an organized cross-border network, officials said.
Tarke Lama alias Dharke Lama, another Nepal-linked suspect, is alleged to have played a role in the same wildlife trafficking chain and remains absconding.
The third suspect, Al Haj Md Shafiqul Islam alias Rahman Talukdar, son of Alhaj Md Idris Talukdar and a resident of Dhaka, Bangladesh, is wanted in connection with two poaching-related cases registered in 2017 and 2025. He, too, carries a Rs 50,000 reward.
Interpol Red Corner Notices
Officials said all three suspects are facing Interpol Red Corner Notices and have remained absconding. Tamang was arrested by STSF from Majnu Ka Tila in October 2015 for allegedly trading pangolin scales and tiger hides but secured bail. The STSF later got his bail cancelled by the high court in February 2016, after which he went underground.
The state later approached Interpol through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India's nodal agency for Interpol, forwarding a dossier of 'most wanted foreign nationals' to its headquarters in Lyon, France.
