Following intelligence from a joint team of animal welfare organisations — OIPA, ACF, and PAWS-Mumbai — the Maharashtra Forest Department's Range Forest Officer (Wildlife) raided a home at Grant Road in Mumbai and seized an Indian Star Tortoise (scientific name Geochelone elegans). The forest officer has arrested 57-year-old Vinay Ishwarlal Vaghela in this regard.

As the Indian Star Tortoise is a protected species under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Vaghela was booked under Sections 9, 39, 48, 49, and 51 of the Act. He was produced before the court, which ordered three days of forest custody.