Snapdeal, IndiaMART, 2 others get notice in Madhya Pradesh for selling wildlife-related items

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Tiger Strike Force has served notice to e-commerce firms Snapdeal, IndiaMART, Wish and Buy and Craft Comparison for allegedly selling wildlife products on their websites.  The notices were served to the e-commerce companies last week after their names surfaced during an investigation of seizure of wildlife-related items in Indore, a state public relations department official has said. “MP Tiger Strike Force has served notices to Snapdeal, IndiaMART, Wish and Buy and Craft Comparison for selling wildlife-related items on their websites. The companies were told to remove all such content and to submit a clarification as to why an action should not be initiated against them,” the official said. The official said the force had confiscated items made out of wild animals’ limbs from the premises of a company called Shubh Bhakti in Indore’s Vijay Nagar in June this year. The company’s owners, Sumit Sharma and Firoz Ali, were arrested and a case was registered against them under the Wildlife Protection Act. “During interrogation, the accused told that they were into trading of puja (worship) materials and are also into sale of wildlife related items,” she said. They also told police that superstitious people believe that possession of such products will make them win court cases, help them become rich, child birth, business growth and saw it as solution to every problem. The duo said that they sold these products in a large quantity to people at a high price. During interrogation, the accused confessed that they sold these wildlife related items through Snapdeal, IndiaMART, Wish and Buy, and Craft Comparison. Initially, the accused defended themselves by claiming that the items are not related to wildlife, and are made up of roots of plants. However, a forensic examination confirmed that the products were wildlife items, the official said.