The Madhya Pradesh Tiger Strike Force has served notice to e-commerce firms Snapdeal, India Mart, Wish and Buy and Craft Comparison for allegedly selling wildlife products on their portals.
The notices were served to the e-commerce companies last week after their names surfaced during an investigation of seizure of wildlife related items in Indore, a state public relations department official has said.
“MP Tiger Strike Force has served notices to Snapdeal, India Mart, Wish and Buy and Craft Comparison for selling wildlife related items on their websites. The companies were told to remove all such content and to submit a clarification as to why an action should not be initiated against them,” the official said.
She said the force had confiscated items ‘hattha-jodi’ and ‘siyar-singhi’ (used in black magic) made out of wild animals’ limbs from the premises of a company called, Shubh Bhakti in Indore’s Vijay Nagar in June this year.
The company owners – Sumit Sharma and Firoz Ali – were arrested and a case was registered against them under the Wild Life Protection Act.
“During interrogation, the accused told that they were into trading of puja (worship) materials and are also into sale of wildlife related items,” she said.
They also told police that superstitious people believe that possession of ‘hattha-jodi’ will make them win court cases, help them become rich, child birth, business growth and saw it as solution to every problem.
The duo said that they sold these products like ‘hattha-jodi’ in a large quantity to people at a high price.
During interrogation, the accused confessed that they sold these wild life related items through portals – Snapdeal, India Mart, Wish and Buy, and Craft Comparison.
Initially, the accused defended themselves by claiming that the items are not related to wildlife, and are made up of roots of plants.
However, a forensic examination confirmed that the products were wildlife items, the official said. PTI ADU
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