Ex-minister surrenders, not arrested

Pune, Aug. 28: Complying with a Bombay high court directive, former Maharashtra minister Dharamarao Baba Atram, charged with killing a chinkara deer near here, on Thursday surrendered before forest department officials who recorded his statement but did not arrest him.

NCP leader Atram, who resigned from the state Cabinet in wake of the June 14 chinkara poaching episode, arrived in Bhor, around 40 km from here, at 11 am with supporters from his home district Gadchiroli in Vidarbha.

Before he presented himself to the officials who have listed him as an accused in the case filed under the Protection of Wildlife Act, Mr Atram told reporters that he was innocent. The high court, while rejecting his anticipatory bail application last week, had directed the former minister to surrender at Bhor on August 28 between 2 pm and 3 pm.

According to sources, the recording of Mr Atram’s statement continued for about four hours, after which Mr Atram told the investigating officers that he was tired and unwell and requested them to continue the interrogation on Friday.

Eyewitness accounts submitted by the officials to the court allege Mr Atram’s direct involvement in the poaching of chinkara.

—PTI