Sansaar Chand

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For A ruler of former princely state of Kangra, see Sansar Chand of Kangra.

Sansar Chand (also referred to as Sansaar chaand, Sansaar chand) (born 1958) is probably one of the most notorious wildlife product traders.

He has been involved with the wildlife skin trade virtually all his life. He was first arrested at the age of 16, in September 1974, in a case involving tiger and leopard skins and 676 other wildlife skins. Sansar and his gang members have at least 57 court cases pending against them in nine states in India - Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka, dating from September 1974 to April 2005. There are cases - and bail applications and appeals - that have been pending against him for up to 17 years. Despite the large number of cases against Sansar and his colleagues, he has only received 2 convictions - for his first case in Delhi in 1974, and for a case in Bhilwara, Rajasthan, in January 2003. In April 2004, he was convicted to five years imprisonment for this case by the Ajmer courts. He appealed the conviction and three weeks later was granted bail. But in June 2005 He was again arrested by CBI in delhi. Now he is in Jaipur jail. Not only Sansar Chand but his other gang members( Hiralal Khatik, Kallya Bavaria, Ballya Bavaria) responsible for Sariska poaching cases are also in jail. Now there are no bail for Sansar Chand from court till December 2006.

A key to Sansar Chand's success is that his right-hand workers are usually family members. WPSI has identified 36 family members operating in his gang. Sansar's wife, Rani Saini, a politician in Delhi, is presently in jail in Jaipur, accused in a seizure of leopard parts in October 2004. His son, Akash, is also in jail in Jaipur.

The CBI's enquiries have revealed that he was just a trader who never knew how to hunt but used a gang of 20 poachers. He is supposed to have a hand in trading all the tigers poached in the Sariska reserve.

Belinda Wright, executive director, Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), sums up his professional career, "He is probably responsible for more tiger and leopard deaths than anyone else in the country."

Police raided his warehouse and noted that it looked like a slaughterhouse. The haul of anmial skins, bones, teeth, paws etc are one of the largest in decades. This confirms Valmik Thapar's contention that most tiger population statistics in India are highly inaccurate, inflated and improbable.