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Wildlife crime bureau may move Interpol

KOLKATA: The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is likely to refer to Interpol the case of Czech entomologist Emil Kucera illegally fleeing India, jumping bail granted by a Darjeeling court.

Mr. Kucera, who was awarded three-year imprisonment for smuggling out rare insects from the Singalila National Park in June, fled to the Czech Republic last week.

Czech Ambassador Hynek Kmonicek expressed “regret” over Mr. Kucera’s action though it was “his personal decision.”

Speaking to The Hindu from New Delhi over telephone on Wednesday, Dr. Kmonicek said he had been in touch with the Czech Foreign Ministry, which was keen that Mr. Kucera’s trial be conducted in an Indian court.

“If in future the question of his [Mr. Kucera’s] extradition comes up, we will cooperate but it must be done in a legal manner.”

Confirming that Mr. Kucera was back home, Vladislav Malý, president of the Czech Entomologist Association, said he decided “not to wait for the result of his appeal trial” after having been in Darjeeling for five months.

Prior to fleeing the country, the Czech national was planning to move a higher court against the sentence.

“He [Mr. Kucera] apologised in writing to the embassy for this solution but he has lost belief that his trial could be solved in a just manner in Darjeeling,” Mr. Malý said in an e-mail to this correspondent.

Petr Svacha, another Czech national, who was also arrested in connection with the smuggling of insects but was let off by the Darjeeling court after he paid a fine of Rs. 20,000, would return from New Delhi “after clearing all formalities,” Mr. Malý said.

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