3 held for killing & burying elephant in Dhenkanal orchard

Bhubaneswar: The forest department on Monday arrested three persons for allegedly killing a ‘makhna’ (a male elephant with no tusks) and burying its carcass using an excavator in a mango orchard under Hindol range in Dhenkanal district.The arrested include Pramod Kumar Raj (64), owner of the orchard, excavator operator Sudhir Bhatia (28) and Rajib Choudhury (38), a watchman at the orchard.Forest department claimed the elephant may have strayed into the orchard to eat mangoes, and this may not have gone down well with the owner.“From the neck and trunk area we could see black marks, indicating electrocution. The farmhouse has a solar fence around it and the fence was connected with high-voltage wire. The elephant may have died upon touching it. However, a post-mortem report will confirm the exact reason behind the death,” said Sanjay Swain, regional chief conservator of forests, (Angul circle).Swain said the incident took place on Friday and they came to know about it on Monday. “We got information about the burial of the elephant carcass from our informers,” said Swain.After getting information, forest officials went to the site with an excavator. “We had to use an excavator to dig up the site where the carcass was buried. We took the carcass out and did a post-mortem in the presence of senior forest officials and specialist veterinarians,” Swain told TOI.Forest officials said soon after the elephant’s death, a 20ft deep hole was dug up using an excavator, which has been seized. The elephant was buried with the help of the excavator operator and the watchman.“If there is involvement of others in the crime, they will be caught soon,” said a senior forest officer.