Mangaluru – A shocking case has emerged at Pilikula Biological Park after its director, Dr. Prashant Pai, lodged a complaint at Kavoor police station alleging that a former meat supply contractor plotted to poison the zoo’s animals out of anger over losing the latest tender.
According to Dr. Pai, the park recently awarded the meat supply contract to a new vendor. On August 7, an employee of the previous contractor allegedly called park staff and suggested mixing poison into the meat to cause the animals’ deaths, thereby discrediting the new supplier.
The matter first came to light when the park’s medical officer, Dr. Divya Ganesh, reported it to the director on August 8. Subsequent inquiry revealed that Abbas and Hanif—associated with the previous contractor, Khader—had been involved in distributing meat to the park’s wild animals in earlier years. After losing the tender this year, Abbas’s employee Hanif allegedly phoned park worker Harish, claiming he had added rotten or poisonous meat to the current supplier’s delivery in an attempt to have it rejected.
An audio recording of the conversation between Harish and Hanif has been submitted to the police as evidence. Dr. Pai has urged investigators to seize the mobile phones of Abbas and Hanif to uncover the full extent of the conspiracy and identify all those involved.