Chennai: A young man who announced on social media that he had tiger cubs for sale was arrested on Wednesday.
He has been identified as Parthipan (24), a native of Arani in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu. He was arrested by Forest Department officials.
On Sunday, Parthipan posted a status on WhatsApp which revealed three tiger cubs. He had announced that a 3-month-old tiger cub was on sale for Rs 25 lakhs.
In the social media post, he also assured delivery within 10 days on the receipt of money.
Since this came to light, the Forest Department had launched an investigation. Parthipan, learning of the investigation, had gone into hiding. He was soon nabbed from near Vellore.
Though a search was conducted at his residence, no tiger cubs were found.
It is learnt that the picture of tiger cubs was given to Parthipan by a friend based in Ambattur.
According to the Forest Department, Parthipan confessed that the elaborate fraud was done using kittens. The team dyed the kitten's body to give it the appearance of a tiger cub and sold it to unsuspecting people.