Top Tripura forest officer suspended over controversial naming of big cats

The Tripura government has allegedly suspended the state’s principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife and ecotourism), Prabin Lal Agrawal, amid a row surrounding the naming of lions Akbar and Sita, The Times of India reported on Monday.

“Akbar” was the name of the third Mughal emperor who reigned from 1556 to 1605 while “Sita” is a Hindu deity from the epic Ramayan.

On February 13, West Bengal forest officials brought the seven-year-old lion Akbar and five-year-old lioness Sita to Bengal Safari Park in Siliguri from Sepahijala Zoological Park in Tripura, reported The Statesman.