First case against Sansar Chand was filed in 1974 at the age of 18. (PTI, Reuters) First case against Sansar Chand was filed in 1974 at the age of 18. (PTI, Reuters)

Poacher Sansar Chand, who was blamed for wiping out Sariska’s tiger population in 2005, died of prostate cancer in a Jaipur hospital on Tuesday morning. Sansar, who was in his late 50s, died hours before he was to appear in court in a poaching case.

Sansar was brought from Delhi’s Tihar Jail hospital to Alwar for the appearance, but had to be moved to the district hospital. On Saturday, he was taken to Jaipur’s SMS Hospital , where he died at 9.53 am on Tuesday.

He had 10 “strong cases of poaching” against him and was named in at least 40 others. He was accused of killing over 200 tigers apart from several hundred other species. He was arrested by Delhi Police and later handed over to the CBI.

The first case against him was filed in 1974 at the age of 18. He is said to have entered the trade as early as age 13.

“Sansar operated through conduits and couriers and would never involve himself directly. Despite being the kingpin, he could not be nailed because of this modus operandi,” said Saurabh Sharma, who fought several cases against Sansar on behalf of the Wildlife Trust of India.

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