On 23 July 2026, ten leopard skins and other leopard body parts were seized in Agra, Uttar Pradesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four people were initially arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What appeared at first to be another wildlife-trafficking seizure subsequently developed into a much wider investigation reaching into Madhya Pradesh, the Kuno\u2013Chambal landscape, and the activities of individuals associated with the conservation organisation Wildlife SOS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case is still developing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Blood of the Leopard<\/strong>, the importance of the Ten Skins Case lies not simply in the number ten. It lies in the possibility of reconstructing the chain behind those skins:<\/p>\n\n\n\n the leopard \u2192 the killing \u2192 the collection of the body \u2192 the trafficking network \u2192 the attempted sale.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At present, parts of that chain remain unproven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That distinction matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 23 July 2026, authorities in Agra seized ten leopard skins and other leopard body parts in an operation that resulted in four initial arrests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The operation was reportedly assisted by information supplied by Wildlife SOS personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The seizure subsequently led investigators in Madhya Pradesh to examine whether the skins had originated from leopards killed within the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 30 July, the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force registered a forest offence investigation concerning the alleged hunting, procurement and movement of protected wildlife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The investigation therefore moved beyond the possession of the skins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It began to ask a more fundamental question:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who killed the leopards?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigators have alleged that the ten skins originated from leopards killed in the wider Shivpuri\u2013Sheopur\u2013Morena \/ Kuno\u2013Chambal landscape<\/strong> of Madhya Pradesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reportedly recovered during the investigation were leopard bones and other body parts, together with leg-hold traps and other material allegedly associated with leopard killing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there is an important distinction between an investigative reconstruction and forensic proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At present, the individual identities of the ten animals represented by the skins have not been publicly established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Madhya Pradesh investigators have reportedly sought to compare the distinctive spot patterns of the seized skins with the Wildlife Institute of India’s database of leopards documented in the Kuno and Chambal region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where suitable biological material is available, DNA could provide another route towards identification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Blood of the Leopard, this is one of the central questions in the case:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can the ten skins be individually connected to ten known leopard deaths?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Until that question is answered, the alleged ten source animals remain an investigative proposition rather than a completed forensic finding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The investigation has expanded considerably since the original Agra seizure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By late August, Indian reporting put the number of arrests at approximately fifteen across several states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investigators have alleged that leopards were killed using methods including traps and that their bodies were subsequently processed for valuable parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the investigation ultimately establishes the links between the recovered remains, the skins and individual animals, the significance of the case will extend well beyond the seizure itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would provide evidence of a supply chain operating at the point where a living leopard becomes a commodity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is the part of the wildlife trade that is often invisible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The skin found at the end of the chain is visible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The animal that died at the beginning of it is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Wildlife SOS connection has become one of the most significant and most sensitive aspects of the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wildlife SOS personnel reportedly assisted the original Agra operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subsequently, two individuals associated with the organisation were arrested by Madhya Pradesh investigators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bhagwan Singh<\/strong>, also known as Salim, was arrested on 11 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wasim Akram<\/strong>, identified as Wildlife SOS Director of Sustainability and Special Projects, was arrested on 12 August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indian reporting has subsequently carried allegations by investigators concerning the roles of these individuals and their relationship with the alleged poaching network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wildlife SOS has rejected those allegations and maintained that its personnel were engaged in legitimate anti-poaching intelligence work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those competing positions remain part of an active investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They should not be confused with a finding of guilt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The investigation subsequently reached Wildlife SOS co-founder and CEO Kartick Satyanarayan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proceedings in the Madhya Pradesh High Court were followed by an appeal to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 21 September 2026, the Supreme Court restored interim protection from arrest while directing Satyanarayan to appear before Madhya Pradesh forest authorities and cooperate with the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Court made no determination on the merits of the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On 28 September, Satyanarayan appeared before the MP Forest Department \/ State Tiger Strike Force in Shivpuri.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was reportedly questioned for more than nine hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the questioning, Satyanarayan maintained that Wildlife SOS was innocent and said that the organisation would fully cooperate with the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The significance of this development is procedural rather than conclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The investigation continues.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A separate investigation reported in September has introduced another Wildlife SOS-related question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The matter concerns an alleged 2020 cross-border elephant transaction involving Nepal and Uttar Pradesh<\/strong>, arising from records associated with a 2022 Wildlife Crime Control Bureau investigation into ivory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to records reported by The Indian Express<\/em>, an accused in that investigation described the alleged movement of a female elephant from Nepal into Uttar Pradesh during the COVID-19 lockdown period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reporting also described telephone communications involving a contact identified as \u201cSOS.Baigo.Agra\u201d<\/strong>, with messages reportedly referring to \u201cSuraj Pal’s elephant\u201d and to keeping \u201cKartick sir\u201d informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The telephone number was reported as being associated with a Wildlife SOS conservation director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wildlife SOS personnel have denied knowledge of the alleged transaction and communications. The organisation has also stated that Suraj Pal, identified in the reporting as the alleged purchaser of the elephant, was no longer an employee after 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These are allegations arising from an earlier investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is currently no established evidence connecting the Nepal elephant matter to the Ten Skins Case<\/strong>, nor is there sufficient evidence to state that Wildlife SOS itself purchased an elephant from Nepal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For now, Blood of the Leopard records this as a parallel intelligence lead requiring further verification<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following elements of the case are documented or independently reported:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most important questions remain unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are the ten skins actually from ten particular leopards killed in Madhya Pradesh?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Can individual skins be matched to individual animals through spot-pattern analysis or DNA?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who killed the animals?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who commissioned the killings?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who financed the activity?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who collected and transported the skins?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who was the intended purchaser?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Does the investigation reveal a larger trafficking network?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And, separately:<\/p>\n\n\n\n What evidence will ultimately emerge concerning the allegations involving Wildlife SOS-associated individuals?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A leopard skin is the final visible product of a process that began with a living animal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between those two points lies a chain of human decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ten Skins Case provides an opportunity to examine that chain in unusually close detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the investigation succeeds in linking individual skins to individual leopard deaths, it could provide a rare evidentiary bridge between wildlife crime at source and wildlife trafficking at destination<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That matters because seizure statistics alone can tell us how much wildlife has entered the trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They do not necessarily tell us:<\/p>\n\n\n\n where the animals were killed, how they were killed, who organised it, or why the supply continued to exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Those are the questions that matter if prevention is to begin before another leopard disappears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ten Skins Case remains active.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blood of the Leopard will continue to monitor:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any WII photographic\/spot-pattern findings, DNA results or other evidence identifying the source animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further arrests, interrogations, charges, charge sheets and recovered evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further proceedings involving the accused and Wildlife SOS-associated individuals, including any subsequent proceedings involving Kartick Satyanarayan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Evidence identifying suppliers, financiers, intermediaries and intended purchasers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Further evidence concerning the reported Nepal elephant transaction and other historical or contemporary cases involving relevant individuals or networks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether subsequent leopard seizures can be demonstrably connected to the Ten Skins network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ten skins were found in Agra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But ten skins are not ten stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each skin once belonged to a living leopard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Until we know where those animals came from, how they died and who turned their deaths into commodities, the story is unfinished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blood of the Leopard will continue to follow the evidence.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE TEN SKINS CASE Ten leopard skins. A widening investigation. And a question that remains unanswered: where did the animals come from? On 23 July 2026, ten leopard skins and other leopard body parts were seized in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. Four people were initially arrested. What appeared at first to be another wildlife-trafficking seizure subsequently […]<\/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-2847","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2847","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=2847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2848,"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2847\/revisions\/2848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildleopard.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nTHE AGRA SEIZURE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nTEN SKINS \u2014 TEN LEOPARDS?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nFROM POACHING TO TRAFFICKING<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWILDLIFE SOS<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nKARTICK SATYANARAYAN<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nA SECOND WILDLIFE-TRADE THREAD: NEPAL<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWHAT WE KNOW<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n\n\n\nWHAT WE DO NOT YET KNOW<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWHY THE TEN SKINS MATTER<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nBLOOD OF THE LEOPARD \u2014 INTELLIGENCE WATCH<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
FORENSIC IDENTIFICATION<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
THE INVESTIGATION<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
THE COURTS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
THE TRAFFICKING CHAIN<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
PARALLEL WILDLIFE-CRIME INTELLIGENCE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
CROSS-CASE CONNECTIONS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nTHE QUESTION THAT REMAINS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n