4 Hunters Allegedly Rape Bengal Monitor Lizard; Arrested

Four hunters have been arrested for allegedly raping a Bengal monitor lizard inside a forest reserve in India.

The four men, identified as Sandeep Tukram, Pawar Mangesh, Janardhan Kamtekar and Akshay Sunil, committed the appalling act in the Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (STR) in the state of Maharashtra, officials said Wednesday.

The suspects were first nabbed for trespassing Chandoli National Park, which is part of the tiger reserve. Officials later found a video of the alleged abuse on one of their phones, according to India Today.

Before the arrest, CCTV footage captured the suspects wandering about in the forest. They reportedly went there to hunt, and one of them was even carrying a gun.

Forest officials arrived at the spot and managed to arrest one of the men at the scene. The remaining three suspects, who fled the forest area, were eventually nabbed in a village following a tip-off, The Newz India reported.

Officials searched a mobile phone that belonged to one of the suspects and found a recording of the four men allegedly gang-raping the monitor lizard. The phone also contained photos of rabbits, porcupines and deer.

"During the investigation, the forest officials found that the accused had allegedly raped a Bengal monitor lizard. Their act was also recorded in a mobile phone of one of the accused persons," a forest official said, as per The Hindu. "We have recovered all the related evidence from the accused and they were granted forest department custody initially, but are out on bail now."

An official noted that every Monday, the men are expected to appear before the forest officer investigating the case.

"The four accused have been booked under various sections of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972," the outlet quoted Nanasaheb Ladkat, field director of STR, as saying.

If convicted, the accused men could spend seven years behind bars.

In 2019, a man was arrested in the African nation of Malawi for allegedly raping a goat. The goat's owner, Pemphero Mwakhulika, first thought the suspect, identified as Kennedy Kambani, was trying to steal the animal. But when Mwakhulika went to the field with some neighbors, he caught Kambani allegedly trying to have sex with the goat. Kambani later told cops that he asked the goat for permission before trying to have sexual intercourse with it. He was charged with bestiality.