A team of Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has arrested Lal Bahadur BK, who was involved in poaching Namobuddha, the country’s first tiger fitted with a Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled satellite collar in Bardiya National Park (BNP). 

Lal Bahadur aka Raj Bahadur was on the run after killing Namobuddha in 2011.

 Acting on a tip-off provided by Indian authorities, the team led by CIB DSP Pravin Pokhrel arrested BK from Banbarsa, on the Indian territory along the Nepal-India border, on Wednesday and was brought to BNP on Thursday morning for further investigation.

“BK had fled from Bardiya after the killing, along with his family, and was working at the apple orchard in Shimla,” said Pokhrel. It took one week for the CIB team to arrest BK with the support form Indian authorities.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Namobuddha was translocated from Chitwan National Park to Babai valley inside the BNP on January 22, 2011. The carcass of Namobuddha was recovered from Narasoti inside BNP on May 18. Charred pieces of the GPS device were strewn around the site, while two dismembered cow carcasses were also found nearby.

Investigations revealed that the carcasses were poisoned and the Royal Bengal Tiger—protected in the BNP—died after consuming the poison-laced flesh.