Bengaluru: Kannada Bigg Boss contestant Varthur Santosh (28) was arrested for wearing a tiger claw pendant by the Karnataka forest department officials on late Sunday evening after the live TV show ended from Bengaluru.

The contestant, identified as Santosh Kumar (Varthur Santosh), he was caught on camera wearing a tiger claw pendant. He was arrested by the forest officials from Kaggalipura range after confirming that the claws which he was spotting on the television screen were genuine and not fake.

Kumar Pushkar, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, said to the media that the arrest was made on October 22^nd, 2023 in Bengaluru.  He said that they had got a tip- off from an activist and viewer. DFO and RFOs immediately acting upon it, went to the set of the TV shooting of Colours Kannada channel.

We procured the pendant that Santosh was wearing and started verifying it. After it was confirmed that it was genuine. He has been booked under Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and a wildlife forest offence case number 02/2023-24 has been filed against him by the Kaggalipura RFO, before the magistrate, said Pushkar.