The incident allegedly took place inside Maharashtra’s Sahyadri Tiger Reserve and “came to light days after the four accused were booked for illegally entering Chandoli National Park, which is part of the reserve, with one of them carrying a gun for hunting,” a spokesman for the Maharashtra Forest Department told reporters on April 13.
Local police originally detained the four men on March 31 for illegally entering the state forest when their alleged crime of bestiality was discovered.
“During the investigation, the forest officials found that the accused had allegedly raped a Bengal monitor lizard. Their act was also recorded in a mobile phone of one of the accused persons,” an unnamed Maharashtra Forest official told PTI on April 13.
“We have recovered all the related evidence from the accused and they were granted forest department custody initially, but are out on bail now,” the official added.
“The four accused have been booked under various sections of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972,” Nanasaheb Ladkat, the field director of the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve, told reporters on April 13.