The Investigating Officer (IO) in the case, Lalit Gaura, received a detailed report from Panvel forest department officials early this morning and a team has left for Mumbai to try and determine from where the animals were brought.

Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad is supporting the Bishnois on the issue, leaving the Muslim youths agitated. Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders have been demanding that the accused be strictly punished, with one of them adding ``it is only the Muslims and Rajputs who eat non-vegetarian food and kill animals''.

According to him, many of the accused have indulged in hunting of endangered animals in the past also. However, some of the Muslims feel poaching is quite common in the area and Salman is beingvictimised.

``We will not let him become a pawn in the political game,'' says an angry Mushir Hassan, a resident of the Stadium area of Jodhpur.

The police have deployed additional forces in the caste-riven town. Superintendent of Police, Jodhpur, Akshay Kumar Mishra assures everything is under control and that patrolling had been intensified only as a preventive measure. He also informs that they have decided to identify vulnerable areas and organise joint patrolling by the forest department and police.

When contacted, Gaj Singh, member of the former royal family of Jodhpur and owner of the Umaid Bhawan Hotel where the accused stars were staying, said: ``If proved guilty, the offenders should be punished.'' Singh is president of the Rajasthan chapter of the World Wide Fund for Nature.