Pilibhit (UP), Mar 31 (IANS): More than 18 kilograms of hog deer meat was seized by the forest field force at the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve (PTR) on Monday.

The meat was seized from a banana orchard in Naujalaha Nakta village under Mathotanda police station. The meat was wrapped in banana leaves.

Eight people have been booked by the PTR authorities.

The hog deer had been killed at Maharajpur village near the Barahi forest range of PTR.

Deputy director of PTR Naveen Khandelwal said three of the eight accused were identified as Manoj Sarkar, Roman Sarkar and Panchu Mandal. All of them belong to Maharajpur and were arrested from their homes.

Five more accused are absconding.

The official said that all of them have been booked under the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act.

The Indian hog deer is a small deer whose habitat ranges from Pakistan, through northern India, to mainland southeast Asia, which inhabits much of the Indo-Gangetic Plains of Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Bangladesh, southwestern Yunnan Province in China, all the way to western Thailand.