M.P. wildlife officials highlight Chambal region’s gun culture as probe into cheetah shooting goes on

Speaking to The Hindu, an official said that the gun culture has emerged as a “crucial segment” in the probe and that the matter had been brought up with senior police officers

Updated - October 30, 2026 01:49 am IST - Bhopal

A cheetah yawns as it rests at Kuno National Park in Sheopur district, Madhya Pradesh. File | Photo Credit: PTI

The wildlife officials in Madhya Pradesh have raised questions about the prevalent gun culture in the Chambal region even as they continue their investigation into the killing of a 19-month-old cheetah cub who was found with five gunshot injuries on October 25. The cub passed away on the morning of October 27 during treatment in Jabalpur.

Speaking to The Hindu, a high-ranking official said that the gun culture has emerged as a “crucial segment” in the probe and that the matter had been brought up with senior police officers in the region. The probe is yet to make a breakthrough.

“It’s a very complex dynamics there with almost everybody owning a gun so we will have to target this culture too going forward. There is need to review the criteria of issuing a gun license in the region and we hope there is some discussion about this at the government level,” the official said requesting anonymity, while calling for a crackdown on the illegal gun manufacturing in the region.

The conversation on gun culture coming up in the probe was confirmed by State’s Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW) Sameeta Rajora.

Ms. Rajora said that all possible angles, including poaching, revenge killing or self-defence, were being explored in the probe.

On the evening of October 25, a cheetah monitoring team found the cub, which was wearing a radio collar for tracking, in a still position in compartment no. 748 of the Sheopur Territorial Forest Division on the border of Sheopur and Morena districts, about 50 kilometres from Kuno’s boundaries. During treatment in Jabalpur, five firearm metal pellets were recovered from his body, including one from his lung.

The two districts fall under the Chambal region, which was once infamous for its vast ravines and the dacoits hiding in them. Even though the dacoits are a fear of the past now, rivalries, high crime rates, and the tradition of owning a gun continue to thrive in the region. Morena is often in the news for its illegal arms manufacturing.

Officials from the region say a gun can be found in almost every household there.

The probe is being carried out by a State Government-formed special task force (STF) of forest and police officers, while a high-level team constituted by the Union Government also visited the area on October 28.

Sources in Kuno said that various teams had been mapping the area roamed by the cub for 15-20 days before he was shot for leads.

“Our teams have been mapping the area in which the cub roamed for 15-20 days before being shot and, more importantly, where he made the kills. We have also identified various illegal cattle camps in the area because it is believed that he was killed in revenge after he killed someone’s cattle,” an official said.

“So far we have not found any strong evidence indicating a poaching attempt, but it would be premature to conclusively say anything. We are making progress and should make a breakthrough very soon,” the official added.

An official, who is involved with the probe, said that the weapon used in the shooting is “suspected to be a country-made bharmar gun”, a traditional single-shot, muzzle-loading smoothbore firearm that is popular is the rural and forest parts of the region.

“As of now, we believe it to be a bharmar gun based on the pallets and their popularity in the area,” the official said.

The official also added that the monitoring team had already been tracking the KNG22’s movement ever since he wandered off outside the boundaries of Kuno and that contact was made with the cub early in the morning the same day. The cub was found near Morena’s Pahadgarh village, and the surrounding area has dense forests and small hills, he said.

“Including KNG22, we had 14 radio-collared cheetahs that were ranging in the wild, and they are monitored every day with a focus on gathering visual evidences too. Similarly, he was being monitored that day too. Our team spotted him around 3 a.m. and was in sight for about an hour after which it disappeared and we believe it made a kill,” the official said, adding that when his tracker showed him still, the initial assumption is that the animal is resting after eating.

“The concern began when the cub did not move for an unusually long time and the team started following the tacker. Even then the initial suspicion was that he had been attacked by another wild animal like leopard so we went for the rescue and found him with injuries,” the official added.