Lanjigarh: Forest officials Tuesday nabbed three poachers on charge of electrocuting a tusker by drawing live wires from an 11-kv transmission line and latter trimming its tusks at Luma jungle under Biswanathpur forest range in Kalahandi district.
The accused poachers were identified as Digambar Sahu, Surendra Ghadai and Naka Patra of nearby Khajurguda village. The accused after killing the tusker had trimmed its tusks. Later, they hid it at a secluded place inside the jungle and fled.
The forest officials while arresting the poachers also seized the two tusks each weighing about 1.542kg. “The three poachers were produced in the court,” DFO T Ashok Kumar said.
The tusker, part of a herd, was electrocuted after coming in contact with a live wire laid by the poachers inside Luma forest late March 24.
The matter came to fore after locals noticed the elephant carcass lying in the forest and informed the forest officials.
The brutality of the poachers in killing the pachyderm has spread shockwaves in the area.
Soon after the incident, preliminary inquiries suggested that the pachyderm’s death might be the handiwork of some poachers as the forest officials with the help of power officials cut down the power supply in areas where there is possibility of straying of elephants.
The forest officials are in regular touch with the power officials over phone. Accordingly, Biswanathpur ranger Lakshya Mahananda informed the electricity engineer Bibhuti Bhusan Das about the presence of a jumbo herd in between Kumkhal and Bedagaon villages and urged him to cut down the power supply.
IANS
