Animal ranger held captive and beaten for three days after trying to stop poachers

Rohit Singh sat slumped in the corner of his locked cell, the hunger pains in his stomach throbbing in time with the bruises that covered his body.

He dreaded the sound of the key in the lock – that would mean yet another beating.

He was to spend three days held hostage, his captors the poachers who slaughter elephants and other animals to make a quick buck.

Yesterday, the Mirror revealed elephants in Myanmar, where Rohit worked, could be pushed to the brink of extinction within two years because of a new Asian craze to turn their skin into beads – which traders claim have health benefits.

Some 20 elephants were found killed and skinned in one day alone in the war-torn country.

But while action groups and ­charities are trying to stop the poaching, rangers such as Rohit are facing an explosion of violence against them, as they try to tackle the criminals while surviving on as little as £1.50 a day from local authorities.

Rohit, 33, tells the Mirror how he was kidnapped after trying to go undercover with a poaching gang – but had his cover blown by a drunk colleague.

“A gang of them beat me up and locked me in a room for three days,” he says. “Every so often, they would come back and attack me again, trying to beat information out of me.” He was only saved because a back-up unit was on standby, waiting to raid the building if they did not hear from Rohit for 48 hours. They rescued him, seized the animal parts and arrested the poachers.

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