Korba (Chhattisgarh): In all, 12 persons have been arrested for allegedly killing an elephant calf and burying the carcass in a paddy farm in the Korba district of Chhattisgarh, officials said on Sunday. According to the preliminary investigation, the accused found the elephant calf at the farm in Bania village under the Pasan forest range on October 18. It is learnt that they poisoned it to death the next day and buried the carcass in the farm to hide the crime, Katghora Divisional Forest Officer Premlata Yadav said.
Later, a herd of elephants to which the calf belonged went on a rampage and killed a man and three cattle in the nearby Devmatti village, she said. On receiving information about elephant calf killing, forest personnel exhumed the carcass of the jumbo from the farm in Bania village on October 20 following which a probe was launched into its death, she said. Forest personnel found that paddy had been planted freshly on the patch of land where the carcass was buried to cover up the killing, she said.
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A case was registered for the offence under provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972. Till date, 12 persons, including the owner of the farm where the animal carcass was buried, were apprehended and a 16-year-old boy was arrested from the village in this connection, Divisional Forest Officer said. The official also said that during the interrogation, the accused told the police about their role in the crime. Efforts are on to trace the main accused, who is a member of the Pasan Janpad panchayat, she added.
The human-elephant conflict has been a major issue in northern Chhattisgarh for the past one decade, but such incidents are also being witnessed in the central region of the state in the last few years. The districts prominently affected by human-elephant conflict are Surguja, Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, Gariaband, Jashpur and Balrampur.
As per the forest department, at least 210 people were killed in elephant attacks in the state in the last three years. The state also reported deaths of 47 elephants in the last four years with the causes ranging from ailments and old age to electrocution.
