(From left) Dehri police station house officer Trilokinath Mishra, suspected Naxalite Indu Paswan and Indrapuri station house officer PN Choudhary in Rohtas on Tuesday. Paswan was arrested during a raid at Bharkuria village under the jurisdiction of Shivsagar police station, following intelligence reports of rebels selling skins of wild animals. Police recovered the skin of a tiger as well as the hide and horns of a deer from Paswan. The cops also had information about the presence of Naxalite leader Upendra Chero in the area but he managed to escape. Rohtas superintendent of police Manu Maharaj said the tiger skin was priced between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 1.5 lakh, the deer hide would cost between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh and the horns would fetch around Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000. He said the rebels had turned to selling of skin wild animals because of a sharp decline in collection of levy from contractors engaged in construction of roads in the area. The sale of wild animals has also become rampant in the Rohtas-Kaimur region. “We shall launch a sustained campaign against the killing of wild animals with the help of the forest department officials,” Maharaj added. Text by Ramashankar, picture by Sanjay Choudhary