Lahunipada: Forest officials Wednesday recovered the carcass of an elephant from forest near Chhidakudar village under Banki forest range in Sundargarh district.
The carcass bore injury marks on its back made by arrows with deep cuts on its tusk. Preliminary inquiries suggested the pachyderm might have been killed by electrocution and shot by poison-laced arrows.
Its tail and hind nails were found trimmed with marks of blood noticed on its mouth, ears and tusk. The matter came to the fore after locals noticed the elephant lying dead and informed forest officials.
It was suspected that someone might have killed the elephant as a herd strayed into the area and destroyed crops, K Bolang forester Harishchandra Jena said.
However, the exact reason of the death could be ascertained after the post-mortem report is available, Jena said.
On being informed, Banki ranger Salbinder Singh, ACF Dillip Kumar Sahu reached the spot and took stock of the situation. The body was buried at the spot after a veterinarian conducted a post-mortem.
Later, police officials reached the spot and joined the investigation but failed to trace the killer. Notably, a few days back, forest officials and police had seized two bundles of electric wires from the region. PNN