Holding that “the petitioner, having failed to cooperate with the investigating agency despite protection, has not approached this Court with clean hands”, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has withdrawn the interim protection granted to Wildlife SOS co-founder and CEO Kartick Satyanarayan in a case involving the alleged poaching of leopards in the state.

In its September 7 order, uploaded Wednesday, the Gwalior Bench said the protection granted on September 2 had been obtained “without full disclosure of vital records and circumstances”. It directed Satyanarayan to appear before the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force (STSF) on September 21 and cooperate with the investigation.

The order came on an application by the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD) seeking recall of the interim relief.

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In a press release Wednesday, the MPFD said 15 people from Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi had so far been arrested in the case and described Satyanarayan as an “absconding accused”. It said an arrest warrant was issued against him on August 31 after he failed to join the investigation despite three summonses.

The case stems from the July 23 arrest of four alleged poachers on the Gwalior-Agra highway with 10 leopard skins. Wildlife SOS had then said the seizure followed months of surveillance by its Forest Watch anti-poaching unit. After the skins were traced to Madhya Pradesh, the STSF began investigating the hunting, procurement and movement of the wildlife articles.

As reported by , the probe into the killing of 10 leopards in Sheopur and Morena districts led to the arrests of Bhagwan Singh, described by officials as a wildlife trader associated with Wildlife SOS, and Wasim Akram, a director with the organisation. Investigators alleged that the two named Satyanarayan during questioning.

Satyanarayan moved the High Court seeking the quashing of summonses dated August 14 and August 19, as well as Preliminary Offence Report No. 237/2025. His lawyers said Wildlife SOS personnel had assisted Uttar Pradesh officials by providing the information that led to the seizure. They also argued that Madhya Pradesh could not open a second investigation into the same incident.

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On September 2, the court restrained the STSF from taking coercive action against Satyanarayan and allowed him to attend questioning with a lawyer observing from a distance, subject to his cooperation.

Seeking recall of that order, the state told the court that Satyanarayan had not disclosed a third and final summons issued on August 24 or the arrest warrant subsequently issued by a competent court on August 31. It also said he had failed to appear despite the interim protection.

According to the state, Satyanarayan had sought time to appear, saying he was caring for his ailing mother in Hyderabad. Investigators, however, claimed the hospital informed them that she had been discharged on August 6 and that Satyanarayan had not attended to her there.

The state also rejected his contention that the Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh proceedings concerned the same offence. It said the Agra case dealt with the possession and transportation of the skins, while the STSF was investigating the earlier hunting of the animals and those who allegedly facilitated or abetted it.

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Accepting the state’s application, the court cited the gravity of the alleged wildlife offences, the undisclosed third summons and Satyanarayan’s alleged non-cooperation. The petition will be listed for admission after four weeks.

Wildlife SOS had earlier said it remained committed to supporting all lawful investigations and that neither the alleged digital evidence nor its contents had been shared with the organisation. It maintained that its personnel had helped expose the poaching operation and were being falsely portrayed as its perpetrators.