10 leopard skins, a reputed NGO, cheetah territory: Why MP, Wildlife SOS locked horns

The case alarmed the forest wing even more as the leopards were poached in Project Cheetah landscape. That the NGO has solid credentials adds to the mysteryThe Madhya Pradesh forest department and a high-profile NGO working on wildlife have lately been caught in a battle of contesting claims, raising eyebrows across the sector. The department has accused the topmost office-bearer of the NGO of involvement in grave wildlife crimes. That the NGO in question has solid credentials in the wildlife space only adds to the mystery.According to forest department sources, on July 23, a joint team of the police and forest department from Agra apprehended four persons with 10 leopard skins. Two more suspects, Wasim and Bhagwan Singh, were arrested later.The forest department claims the duo was hand in glove with the NGO Wildlife SOS and the arrested individuals had revealed that the leopards were poached in MP, close to the Kuno National Park, site of the Project Cheetah.The forest department registered a case on July 30 and claims to have digital evidence that Wasim and Singh were in touch with Wildlife SOS co-founder and CEO Kartick Satyanarayan. Satyanarayan, who has strongly refuted the accusation, was summoned before the investigating officer in Shivpuri on two occasions, most recently August 24, but failed to turn up. “We will now issue a lookout notice against Kartick Satyanarayan. We have been asking him to appear before the investigating officer,” said Samita Rajora, chief wildlife warden, MP.The forest department claims Wasim and Singh had provided metal traps to the poachers, who killed the leopards for their skin.Wildlife SOS countered that it works with communities to combat poaching and that the allegations were baseless. The NGO said its legitimate intelligence-gathering work on poaching would suffer if its members are targeted by the forest department.“Wildlife SOS warns that treating legitimate anti-poaching intelligence work as wildlife crime could have a chilling effect on future wildlife enforcement. This case raises a serious and deeply concerning question: what happens to informants, whistleblowers, well-wishers and anti-poaching personnel who come forward, share information and assist enforcement agencies if their efforts are subsequently misinterpreted as participation in the very crimes they helped expose?” noted Wildlife SOS in a written statement.The forest department, on the other hand, termed it as inexplicable why the informants had not reported the killing of leopards. During investigation, the department claims to have found that two leopards had been poached in Morena district, six in Shivpuri and two more in Sheopur. The bones and other remains of the animals were found to match the seized skins.One of the reasons the seizures are giving sleepless nights to MP officials is that the leopards were poached in the heavily-guarded cheetah landscape. If traps could be used to poach leopards, cheetahs could well have walked into them. The introduction of African cheetahs in India since 2022 is under watch from the very top: the Prime Minister’s Office. A cheetah mortality would have thus had serious ramifications on the MP forest bureaucracy.While Satyanarayan has not appeared before the investigating officer, he issued a strong statement. “This is shocking, and we are deeply concerned. Our immensely celebrated efforts over the years in the rescuing and eventual banning of dancing bears in India is just one of the many stories we are proud of. As torchbearers of India’s wildlife and forest resources, we protect, we preserve, and we plan for the health and the welfare of creatures who are voiceless,” the statement read.Wildlife NGOs and forest department officials have broadly had a cordial relationship over the years. Many retired forest officers are associated with NGOs in honorary or paid capacity. NGO office-bearers are on state and central wildlife advisory boards too, suggesting a symbiotic equation. But over this now hangs a spectre of distrust as MP foresters and one of India’s most-prominent wildlife NGOs continue to lock horns.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- EndsPublished By: Akshita JollyPublished On: Aug 27, 2026 20:20 IST