‘Annoyed’ man clubs two otters to death in Valsad; jailed

4 min readSuratUpdated: Jul 16, 2026 09:57 PM IST

The video, which helped authorities identify him, was shot by a local man who caught him in the act. (Image enhanced using AI)

The video is odd – until it becomes shocking.

A man wearing shorts and a T-shirt stands in a shallow, fast-flowing stream in which a net-like structure built with bamboo sticks has been erected. The net is trapping fish – a large number of small, silvery creatures can be seen writhing and jumping.

The man is carrying a short, stout stick in each hand – he looks like he is waiting for something. Suddenly, he lunges, and begins to rain repeated, savage blows on something grey-brown in the water. He then bends, pulls his victim out by its tail, and throws it on the ground by the stream.

The small, grey-brown animal is almost dead, and thrashes weakly in its final moments. It is a smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata), an otter species native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

The smooth-coated otter is categorised as ‘Vulnerable’ in IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed in Schedule 1 of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and enjoys the highest level of protection with strict penalties for their hunting, trading, and poaching.

The Valsad Forest Department has now swooped on an individual from Dharampur taluka in the district for his alleged involvement in killing smooth-coated otters by inflicting repeated blows on the animals with a bamboo stick.

The accused, identified as Gulabbhai Halpati, has been arrested under Sections 9 (“Prohibition of hunting”) and 39 (“Wild animals, etc., to be government property”) of The Wildlife (Protection) Act. He was produced before the Chikhli court on Wednesday (July 15), and sent to Navsari Sub Jail in the evening.

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“Halpati was annoyed that the otters were eating the fish that he was trying to catch, so he killed them,” sources in the Forest Department told The Indian Express. Fish are the primary food of smooth-coated otters.

The Valsad Forest Department launched a hunt for the accused after they came across a viral video of a man purportedly hitting otters with a bamboo stick, killing two of the animals. The video, posted first on a WhatsApp group titled “SF Gully”, shocked the officials and they opened investigations into the alleged crime.

Officials said they identified the man in the video as Halpati, a resident of Kangwai village in Chikhli taluka of Navsari district. The team reached his house and showed him the video, and also identified others who were seen watching him, as well as the person who had shot the video on his mobile phone.

Valsad Assistant Conservator of Forests Bhagirathsinh Jhala told The Indian Express, “The incident took place on July 4 at Kangwai village. The accused, Gulabbhai, has erected a small platform slanting toward the flow of a small river on the outskirts of the village to catch fish. Fish is the favourite prey of otters, and they turned up in the stream along with the fish. He inflicted repeated blows of bamboo sticks on them, killing two otters on the spot. The village youths who were standing nearby saw the incident, and one of them captured it on his mobile phone.”

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Jhala said the Forest Department reached Halpati through the person who had shot the video. “We have not found the carcasses of the otters, and we suspect that they would have been washed away after heavy rain in the area on July 5 and 6 raised the level of the river at Kangwai village, and caused it to spill over its banks,” he said.