Bhopal: A tiny strand of cheetah hair, found lodged in the crease of a car’s front bumper, has emerged as a crucial clue in cracking the hit-and-run case involving the death of a cheetah cub on the Agra–Mumbai National Highway in Gwalior on December 7.
For nearly a week after the incident, investigators were unable to identify the vehicle involved, with no eyewitnesses and no immediate leads. The male cub, KGP-4, was killed around 6.15am near Simariya Mod, under the Ghatigaon police station limits, about 40 km from Gwalior, after being struck by a speeding vehicle while crossing the highway with its sibling.
At the time of the accident, a monitoring team from Kuno National Park was tracking the cubs via satellite collars from a distance of around 300 metres. The team reached the site within minutes, secured the carcass and informed senior officials. While KGP-4 was crushed under the vehicle’s wheels, its sibling, KGP-3, managed to escape.
Senior forest and police officials, including the chief conservator of forests in charge of Kuno National Park, divisional forest officers from Gwalior and Kuno, and local police personnel, subsequently arrived at the scene to begin the investigation.
