You don’t mess with tigers. Indian businessman and influencer Varthur Santhosh was removed from television show “Bigg Boss Kannada” after showing off real tiger claws, media reported on Tuesday. BBC.

He participated in a version of this confinement reality show in Kannada, a language in southwestern India spoken by about 60 million people. The program “Bigg Boss” which is adapted from “Big Brother” is very popular in Indonesia.

“We detained him”

Varthur Santhosh was expelled after 15 days of participating in the reality show and was arrested by local police on Sunday for wearing two tiger paws as a pendant, while carrying animal parts has been a punishable offense under Indian law since 1972.

Police received complaints from viewers after the contestant showed off his claws around his neck, which were hanging from a large gold chain, as seen in his promotional photos for the show.

“We went to the shooting location. We requested that Varthur Santhosh be removed from the game and we checked the pendant, it was confirmed to be a tiger claw. We detained him,” a local police officer told the newspaper. Indian Express. The candidate told police it was a family heirloom.

Three-quarters of the world’s tiger population is in India

Under the wild animal protection law, exposing animal parts is punishable by 3 to 7 years in prison. It’s true, tigers are an endangered species and the global tiger population has declined by 95% in the last century, according to conservation organization WWF.

India is home to about 75% of the world’s tiger population, prompting the government to take various measures to protect the big cats, such as banning hunting.