Elephant smuggled from Nepal, trail points to NGO in leopard poaching probe

The NGO Wildlife SOS is under investigation for alleged involvement in cross-border elephant smuggling from Nepal. Two of the organization's officials are currently in custody in a leopard poaching case. Wildlife SOS CEO Kartick Satyanarayan is set to join the probe. According to records, a WCCB team arrested three men in Jaipur in March 2022 carrying 30 kg of ivory.

One of the suspects claimed that a "Mathura resident" named Suraj Pal, who is "associated with an Agra NGO," had purchased an elephant smuggled from Nepal. The phone of another suspect contained chats with a contact saved as "SOS.Baigo.Agra," which referred to Suraj Pal's elephant and mentioned that the individual had kept "Kartick sir" informed. Wildlife SOS director Baiju Raj denied knowledge of the chat records.