Current Assessment: HIGH-SIGNIFICANCE \/ DEVELOPING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The investigation continues following the seizure of ten leopard skins and other leopard body parts on 23 July 2026 in Agra district, Uttar Pradesh<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What initially appeared to be a major wildlife-trafficking seizure has subsequently developed into a much wider investigation extending across Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi. Multiple arrests have been made, additional leopard remains and trapping equipment have reportedly been recovered, and investigators are examining the possible structure of the trafficking network behind the skins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The evidence remains under assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 23 July, forest and police authorities in Uttar Pradesh seized ten leopard skins and other leopard body parts<\/strong> during an operation in Agra district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four people were initially arrested. The operation reportedly involved a decoy buyer and a meeting arranged near a highway hotel in the Saiyan area of Agra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The seized skins were subsequently believed by investigators to have originated in Madhya Pradesh. The Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force (STSF) therefore began investigating the suspected hunting, procurement and movement of the wildlife articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The significance of the seizure extends beyond the ten skins themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The central questions became:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where were these leopards killed?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who killed them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who obtained and processed the skins?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n How did the skins move from the killing locations into the trafficking chain?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who were the intended buyers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And:<\/p>\n\n\n\n How many people were involved between the death of each leopard and the seizure in Agra?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the initial seizure, the investigation expanded into Madhya Pradesh and involved authorities working across the Kuno Wildlife Division, Sheopur Forest Division and Morena Forest Division, as well as agencies in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By early August, reporting indicated that eleven people had been arrested in connection with the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigators subsequently reported that questioning of suspects indicated that at least ten leopards may have been killed between October 2025 and June 2026<\/strong>, with alleged killing locations including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigators also reported the use of leg-hold traps<\/strong> in the alleged killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Separate searches reportedly resulted in the recovery of leopard bones, other body parts and trapping equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These claims remain part of an active investigation and should not be treated as independently established facts until supported by forensic and judicial evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If substantiated, however, they would transform the Ten Skins Case from a single trafficking seizure into evidence of a potentially organised killing and trafficking operation operating over a much wider landscape and time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By late August, reporting indicated that the investigation had reached 15 arrests across Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The investigation has also generated allegations concerning relationships between some suspects and Wildlife SOS<\/strong>, a Delhi-based wildlife conservation organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wildlife SOS and its CEO, Kartick Satyanarayan<\/strong>, strongly dispute allegations of involvement in wildlife crime and have stated that the organisation’s conservation contacts and informant network have been used to support legitimate anti-poaching work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blood of the Leopard does not treat those allegations as established facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They remain one strand of an active investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 7 September, the Madhya Pradesh High Court withdrew interim protection previously granted to Kartick Satyanarayan in connection with the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The court directed him to appear before the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force on 21 September 2026<\/strong> and cooperate with the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The court’s decision is a procedural development, not a finding of criminal guilt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The allegations concerning Wildlife SOS and Satyanarayan therefore remain unresolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The scheduled appearance before the STSF is now one of the principal immediate developments being monitored by Blood of the Leopard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the investigation, leopard remains were reportedly recovered from sites in Madhya Pradesh, including the Shivpuri and Morena areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These remains have reportedly been sent to the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun<\/strong>, for DNA comparison with the leopard skins seized on 23 July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The forensic results could materially affect our understanding of the entire case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The critical evidential chain is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n leopard remains \u2192 individual mortality \u2192 killing location \u2192 seized skin \u2192 trafficking chain<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If a recovered leopard remains sample can be genetically matched to one of the seized skins, the investigation could move from circumstantial reconstruction toward direct forensic linkage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reverse is also important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the remains cannot be linked to the skins, investigators will need to determine whether the recovered animals represent additional leopard deaths or whether the original reconstruction of the ten killings requires revision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At present, Blood of the Leopard has found no publicly reported DNA result establishing or excluding such a match<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The distinction is important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This distinction is fundamental to Blood of the Leopard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An allegation is intelligence. It is not yet a fact.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ten Skins Case is not occurring in isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI)<\/strong> currently records 108 leopard cases under its \u201cPoaching & Seizures\u201d category for 2026<\/strong>, compared with 108 for the whole of 2025<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By mid-September, therefore, the 2026 figure has already reached 100% of the entire 2025 figure<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WPSI cautions that its figures represent only a fraction of the actual poaching and trade in leopard parts. Its database is compiled from reports received from enforcement authorities, WPSI investigations and other sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The terminology is also important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WPSI’s figure of 108 should not automatically be interpreted as 108 leopard skins or 108 individual carcasses physically seized<\/strong>. It represents WPSI’s recorded cases under its combined \u201cPoaching & Seizures\u201d category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, the comparison provides significant national context:<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 \u2014 108<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2026 \u2014 108 so far<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The year is not yet over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Blood of the Leopard, the significance lies not simply in the number but in what the individual cases reveal about the mechanisms behind that number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Ten Skins seizure, further leopard body-part seizures have been reported across India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These cases are not currently considered part of the Ten Skins investigation<\/strong> unless evidence establishes a connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A leopard skin was seized in Dongri, Mumbai, from a man allegedly attempting to sell it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Maharashtra Forest Department subsequently investigated whether the leopard might have originated from Sanjay Gandhi National Park<\/strong>, with the possibility of comparing the skin’s distinctive rosette pattern against camera-trap records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Status: Confirmed leopard skin seizure.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Forest officials in Narayanpur district recovered an intact leopard skin measuring approximately 184 cm from three men allegedly transporting it on two motorcycles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The origin of the leopard, intended destination and possible wider network remain under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Status: Confirmed leopard skin seizure.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Police in Bhadradri Kothagudem arrested four people and seized:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Police reported that three suspects claimed the leopard had fallen into a pit in Andhra Pradesh and was subsequently killed and processed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The alleged killing location and the seizure location are therefore different jurisdictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Status: Confirmed leopard skin and body-part seizure; minimum one leopard represented.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, working with the Forest Department in Sidhi, intercepted an alleged leopard-skin trafficking operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One leopard skin was recovered from two people travelling in a Mahindra Thar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Follow-up searches identified two further suspected members of the alleged syndicate and recovered additional evidence relating to alleged poaching, possession, transportation and proposed sale of leopard skin and parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Status: Confirmed leopard skin seizure; trafficking-network investigation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n DRI officers intercepted a person in Jeypore, Koraput district, and recovered one leopard pelt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The suspect, vehicle and skin were handed over to the Forest Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Preliminary investigation indicated that the leopard may have been killed several months earlier. Authorities are investigating both the backward linkage<\/strong> to the source of the skin and the forward linkage<\/strong> toward its intended destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Status: Confirmed leopard skin seizure; source and trafficking chain under investigation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Forest Mobile Squad in Uttara Kannada arrested two people in a wider wildlife-trafficking investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the material seized were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same operation recovered tiger claws and teeth, pangolin scales and other wildlife products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The source, intended destination and wider network remain under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Status: Confirmed leopard body-part seizure; number of individual leopards represented remains undetermined.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n These seizures should not be added together mechanically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A leopard skin can represent one dead leopard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A collection of claws or teeth may represent one animal or several.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A seizure date is also not necessarily a killing date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Odisha case, for example, illustrates the distinction clearly: authorities believe the leopard may have been killed months before its skin was intercepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is why Blood of the Leopard records more than seizures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are interested in the entire chain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n death \u2192 processing \u2192 collection \u2192 intermediary \u2192 transportation \u2192 intended buyer \u2192 seizure<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Only by reconstructing that chain can we begin to understand the scale and organisation of the trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether leopard remains recovered in Madhya Pradesh can be genetically linked to the ten skins seized on 23 July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The scheduled appearance of Kartick Satyanarayan before the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additional arrests, searches, forensic evidence and information concerning the alleged killing and trafficking network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Independent evidence establishing where the individual leopards represented by the ten skins were killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Evidence establishing the movement of leopard body parts from killing locations through intermediaries toward intended buyers or markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether the reported ten leopard killings between October 2025 and June 2026 can be independently corroborated, and whether additional unrecorded leopard deaths are identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether the Ten Skins Case and subsequent seizures can be reconciled with WPSI’s national wildlife-crime records without double counting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The seizure of ten leopard skins is significant in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the investigation now raises a much larger question about the scale, organisation and resilience of the illegal leopard trade in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A seizure records the point at which wildlife crime becomes visible to enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It does not necessarily reveal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who killed the leopard?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who supplied the equipment?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who collected the body?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who processed it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who transported it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who arranged the buyer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who financed it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who ultimately benefited?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And, critically:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where did the enforcement system fail before the leopard reached the point of seizure?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ten Skins Case gives us an opportunity to follow those questions through an actual investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also demonstrates why seizure statistics, important though they are, can never tell the whole story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The skins are evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The dead leopards are the real story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CASE:<\/strong> Ten Leopard Skins \u2014 Madhya Pradesh \/ Uttar Pradesh<\/p>\n\n\n\n DATE OF INITIAL SEIZURE:<\/strong> 23 July 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n CURRENT ASSESSMENT:<\/strong> HIGH-SIGNIFICANCE \/ DEVELOPING<\/p>\n\n\n\n Physical evidence:<\/strong> Developing<\/p>\n\n\n\n Arrests:<\/strong> Multiple<\/p>\n\n\n\n DNA analysis:<\/strong> PENDING<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trafficking chain:<\/strong> Incomplete<\/p>\n\n\n\n Origin of individual skins:<\/strong> Not established<\/p>\n\n\n\n Institutional allegations:<\/strong> Unresolved<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further investigation:<\/strong> Active<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next major intelligence triggers:<\/strong> DNA findings; 21 September STSF proceedings; further forensic and trafficking-chain evidence<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blood of the Leopard is a living intelligence publication. Assessments are updated as new evidence becomes available. Where allegations remain unresolved, they are identified as such.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sources include Indian enforcement and government releases, WPSI, established Indian media reporting and other publicly available evidence. Blood of the Leopard distinguishes confirmed events, reported investigative findings, intelligence leads and assessment.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mission Leopard<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Ten Leopard Skins Case Blood of the Leopard \u2014 Living Intelligence Assessment Updated 14 September 2026 Current Assessment: HIGH-SIGNIFICANCE \/ DEVELOPING The investigation continues following the seizure of ten leopard skins and other leopard body parts on 23 July 2026 in Agra district, Uttar Pradesh. What initially appeared to be a major wildlife-trafficking seizure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_surecart_dashboard_logo_width":"180px","_surecart_dashboard_show_logo":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_orders":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_invoices":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_subscriptions":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_downloads":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_billing":true,"_surecart_dashboard_navigation_account":true,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2664","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2664"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2765,"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2664\/revisions\/2765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\n23 July 2026 \u2014 The Ten Skins Seizure<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nInvestigation Expands<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nThe Investigation \u2014 Current Position<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
7 September 2026 \u2014 Significant procedural development<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
21 September 2026 \u2014 Intelligence Watch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nForensic Watch \u2014 DNA<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
HIGH PRIORITY<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
DNA RESULT: PENDING<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhat Is Established \u2014 and What Remains Alleged?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Established<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Reported by Investigators \u2014 Not Yet Independently Established<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Pending<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nThe Wider Indian Context<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Leopard Poaching & Seizures Recorded by WPSI<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nThe Seizure Trail Continues<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Maharashtra \u2014 9 August<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Chhattisgarh \u2014 11 August<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Telangana \/ Andhra Pradesh \u2014 24 August<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
Madhya Pradesh \u2014 5\u20136 September<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Odisha \u2014 7 September<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Karnataka \u2014 9 September<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nWhy the Subsequent Cases Matter<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhat We Are Watching<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
DNA Results \u2014 HIGH PRIORITY<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
21 September STSF Appearance \u2014 HIGH PRIORITY<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Further Investigative Findings \u2014 HIGH<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Origin of the Ten Skins \u2014 HIGH<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Trafficking Chain \u2014 HIGH<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Wider Mortality \u2014 HIGH<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
WPSI Cross-Reference \u2014 HIGH<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhy This Case Matters<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Don’t stop at the seizure. Follow the chain.<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nCurrent Intelligence Status<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n