New Delhi, July 22: The CBI today filed a complaint in the case of poaching endangered leopards at Aravali forests in Uttar Pradesh naming three persons including a Tehelka reporter Kumar Badal. The special CBI court, where the agency filed the chargesheet, has taken cognizance of it, agency sources said.
In the complaint, the CBI said the two poachers --Inam and Meherban -- were arrested by Uttar Pradesh police and were later handed over to the CBI for sustained interrogation after the state government transferred the case to the agency.
The CBI said after the disclosure statement made by Meherban under Section 27 of Indian evidence Act, 84 STD call slips were recovered from his house by the CBI which included details of two cell phone numbers belonging to "Pankaj", for whom the two poachers were allegedly filming the poaching of leopards in the forests.
"On tracing these numbers, it transpired that Oen of the two mobile number -- 9810290047 -- belonged to m/s buffalo network, the concern which owns Tehelka news portal," it said.

"Investigation and interrogation of some material witnesses had revealed that Pankaj was none other than Kumar Badal, an investigative journalist working with Tehelka and that he induced one of the poachers to trap and kill leopards for the sake of videofiliming the entire legal act," the CBI said in its complaint.

Bureau Report