1. Forest officials rescue a peacock from Hi-Q International Academy campus in Bariatu, Ranchi, on Thursday 2. a Reeves’s pheasant being carried away 3. a rare bird yet to be identified by foresters 4. a pair of Australian emus in an enclosure. Pictures by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, June 30: More than a hundred birds — mostly exotic and thus prohibited from captive grooming under wildlife laws — were found on the Bariatu campus of Hi-Q International Academy during a marathon raid by the forest department today.

The two “khatarnak” langurs have, however, gone into hiding. And so have their high-profile guardians (read senior officials of the elite CBSE school run by World Buddha Foundation). While principal Arvind Kumar took a loo break never to return on campus for the day, forest officials have managed to detain a zoo caretaker and an office assistant for interrogation.

The crackdown on the private zoo came within hours of The Telegraph publishing a report exposing flagrant violation of wildlife laws by the residential school, which has 400-odd students on its rolls.

The report prompted principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) J.B. Jauhar to put Ranchi territorial forest division officials on alert against the school management early this morning.

A team of 12, including policemen, raided the campus at noon even while classes were on at a multi-storey building on the other side of the sprawling garden with bird cages.

During the five-hour operation, the officials tumbled upon a wide variety of exotic birds, including the Reeves’s pheasant and the Australian emu. In fact, the campus collection was so huge and varied that the flummoxed foresters were seen flipping through manuals for spot references.

They managed to rescue 18 pairs of lovebirds, 40 mynahs, 16 parakeets, 20 red-ringed parrots, one monal pheasant, two pairs of peacock, two pairs of peahen and four Himalayan pheasants among others.

“It was not possible to rescue all on a single day. We have sent half the campus bird population to Bhagwan Birsa Munda Biological Park. The raids will continue tomorrow,” divisional forest officer (DFO) Y.K. Das said, adding that the langurs could not be found.

Like the primates, their guardians too gave forest officials the slip.

Joint secretary of the school D. Sai accidentally confronted an official who was part of the raid team, but cunningly directed him to principal Kumar’s office. It was only after Sai walked out of the main gate that the forest official realised he was a senior member of the institution’s management team.

“I didn’t know who he was, else I would have stopped him. A guard later told me that he was the joint secretary,” said the official.

The principal was a tad smarter. “He said he would come back from the toilet and talk to us. He never did. He apparently used the back gate of the office building to escape,” said another official.

DFO Das said they asked every possible person on campus about foundation chairman T.N. Chaturvedi, the principal or any management representative, but in vain.

“We have detained zoo caretaker Nandu and office assistant Sriram. They will tell us how the birds were brought here and with funds from where,” he said.

According to forest officials, Indian wildlife laws do not cover foreign avian species. However, the school will have to produce ownership certificates or else face a case of illegal trafficking.

The raid team will return for the langurs tomorrow.