NEW KERALA (India) 16 January 07 15 baby crocs, 100 more snakes found, four sent to jail
Agra (PTI): The remains of 15 baby crocodiles and 100 sea snakes were today dug out by police from a deserted site after questioning a science laboratory owner and three others on the finding of a human skull and bones and specimens of prohibited species here.
Sanjeev Chauhan, who owns the laboratory, his brother Jagdish, father Rajender Singh and Mahender Balmiki were produced in a magistrate's court and remanded in judicial custody.
The laboratory was being run by one Brijesh Upadhyay who is absconding, Senior Superintendent of Police G K Goswami said.
The remains of the baby crocodiles and sea snakes were dug out from a deserted plot near Agra College after Chauhan told police they were buried there when a consignment from Chennai was intercepted during a raid a few months back.
The four were arrested in raids on the laboratory and Chauhan's house last evening following a TV news channel report about a thriving trade in human organs from corpses.
A human skull and bones were fished out of a tank inside his house and five octopuses, two sea snakes, a scorpion, a bat and eel (banned under Preservation of Rare Species Act) were found in drums in the laboratory, Goswami said.
He said four horns of endangered black bucks were also recovered from the laboratory premises.
Goswami said "no prima facie evidence of trading in human organs has yet been found, but the human bone trade angle is being examined".
15 baby crocs, 100 more snakes found, four sent to jail