VIVEKDESHPANDE NAGPUR, MARCH 8 A NEWSPAPER public relations employee, often seen among those close to Forest Minister Babanrao Pachpute during his visit here, was arrested on Saturday for allegedly poaching a spotted deer near Pench tiger reserve in the district. Aslam Khan, working with a local Hindi newspaper, was arrested along with three others by a Forest Department patrol team led by Round Officer N R Gawande when the four were driving away on their scooters stacked with 40 kg of deer mutton inside the reserved forest near Mansar. "Our men, fresh out of a sensitization workshop a day before, were on a vigil when they saw some searchlights. So, they hid themselves behind trees and pounced upon them as soon as they came close," Assistant Conservator of Forest D P Sadavarte told The Indian Express. "Two others, however, managed to decamp on one of the three scooters," he said. "We found them possessing a big knife, but couldn't find any gun that may have been used to kill the animal. It might have been with the two men who escaped. We are searching for them," Sadavarte said. According to Sadavarte, Khan claimed that he and his friends saw an injured deer inside the forest when they were going for fishing and hence killed it. Khan, incidentally, was often seen by wildlife reporters here as belonging to the charmed circle of Pachpute, often calling to invite them for the Minister's press conference. Babu Kombade, the minister's personal assistant, however, refuted that Khan had any links with the minister. "He was known as a media representative. He used to accompany a local NCP leader when he used to visit Pachpute. The minister doesn't even know who he is," Kombade said.