It started as a tip about snake venom being supplied at rave parties. What the crime branch found inside a flat in Navrangpura, Ahmedabad on Sunday was something far bigger.
Behind the door of a 10×12 room sat a makeshift breeding operation. Cages with rare birds. Exotic mammals, and animals that had no business being in a residential building.
The accused, 41-year-old Manikanandan K Nadar, had allegedly been running this operation for six to seven months.
The seizures told their own story. Officers found a rare red-handed tamarin infant, seven Persian cats and kittens, 14 hamsters, 15 mini lop rabbits, and nine Netherland dwarf rabbits. The bird count was staggering. Six African grey parrots, five blue and gold macaws, three eclectus parrots, four sun conures, two galah cockatoos, one sulphur-crested cockatoo, and several lovebirds, cockatiels, budgerigars, and finches.
These were not cheap pets. The accused allegedly sold animals for anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh, depending on the breed. His clientele was reportedly affluent buyers with farmhouses around Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.
When confronted earlier by a neighbour who objected to the animals being kept in a residential building, Nadar had claimed to hold a temporary permit issued by a forest department officer from Gandhinagar.
The raid told a different story. Officers found no valid permissions for commercial breeding, no regular health certifications, and no scientific housing infrastructure. Documents uploaded on the PARIVESH portal appeared incomplete and suspicious.
A senior crime branch officer told a section of the media that keeping such wild and exotic species in large numbers inside a congested residential area, without any biosecurity safeguards, posed serious zoonotic disease risks — diseases that can jump from animals to humans.
It’s learnt that there was no evidence of veterinary monitoring or quarantine systems of any kind.
The probe is now widening. Police are looking into whether some animals were illegally exported or imported without declaration. They have written to customs to verify the import-export trail and examine whether there was any collusion. Investigators are also looking into the accused’s background.
According to reports, police say the business was allegedly inherited from his father, and his family’s links are now under scrutiny.
A probe into his alleged connections with customs officials in Chennai is also underway.
The forest department has been made the complainant in the case. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, the forest department, and customs will jointly probe the documentation, the legality of imports, and the potential public health risks posed to residents of the building.
What began as a drug-linked tip has opened into something far more elaborate, an alleged illegal wildlife trade, hiding in plain sight, in the middle of a city.
Also Read: YouTuber Yadav booked for rave parties with snake venom https://www.vibesofindia.com/youtuber-yadav-booked-for-rave-parties-with-snake-venom/
