New Delhi, April 14 -- A Delhi zoo staffer has contradicted the official version in a controversial jackal death, stating in a fresh submission that he saw the animal inside the Himalayan black bear enclosure on December 18. His statement directly disputes earlier claims by the zoo curator that no jackal was ever found there.

The submission, made by assistant keeper Nand Bahadur Rana on April 11 in response to a notice dated April 9, states that the jackal was seen lying motionless inside a burrow in the enclosure. Rana added that the presence of the animal had also been noted earlier in the beat register by the beat in-charge.

This account runs counter to an earlier submission by zoo curator Manoj Kumar, who had said that no jackal was...