The pendant and tiger claws seized from Varthur Santhosh.
Credit: Special Arrangement
Bengaluru: Bigg Boss Kannada 10 contestant Santhosh Kumar S, arrested for wearing a tiger claw pendant, bought the claws for Rs 20,000 from a village in Tamil Nadu’s Hosur, a Wildlife Offence Report (WLOR) accessed by DH on Tuesday revealed.
Also known as Varthur Santhosh, he was arrested by forest officials on October 22 around 7 pm from the sets of the reality show in Kengeri’s Maligondanahalli.
Santhosh, 28, was presented before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) court in Koramangala and was remanded to judicial custody till November 6, said N Ravindra Kumar, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF), Bengaluru Urban.
Santhosh was booked under Sections 39, 40, 44, 48 (a), 49 (a)(b), 51, 52 and 58 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, including Section 9 that prohibits hunting.
“We got directions from our higher officers, who had received a complaint, based on which action was initiated,” the DCF told DH.
A bail plea filed by Santhosh’s advocate will likely be heard on Wednesday.
The trip to Hosur
During questioning, Santhosh revealed that he and his childhood friend Ranjith, who runs a barber shop in Varthur, visited a village near Hosur three years ago and bought two tiger claws.
Santhosh claimed he doesn't know who sold them the claws or the name of the village.
One of the claws was 1.7 cm wide and 2.8 cm long, while the other was 1.6 cm wide and 2.8 cm long.
Six months later, Santhosh took the two claws to Hemant, a jeweller who owns Mahalakshmi Jewellers in Varthur. Hemant affixed the claws into a pendant and a chain, the WLOR said.
However, the report stated that Santhosh was aware they were tiger claws and bought it as it is considered "auspicious".
Ranjith and Hemant and some others were named as suspects in the WLOR, but are yet to be arrested, a forest official said, adding that investigations were on.
Who is Varthur Santhosh?
Santhosh is popularly known as Hallikar Odeya for rearing the Hallikar breed of cattle. He is also a businessman and the chairman of the All India Hallikar Breed Conservation Committee and the Hallikar Cattle Breed Conservation Committee.
Dept warns of action
On September 16, 2022, the then Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden wrote to the Jewellers’ Association and the Karnataka Diamond and Gems Merchants’ Association.
They asked them to advise their members “to keep away from possessing or using any wildlife part, failing which the department is constrained to proceed as per the penal provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972".