Bhubaneswar: In a first in Odisha, a local court in Boudh Monday convicted eight persons of killing an elephant and removing its tusks for pecuniary gains in the district in 2016. The convicts were identified as Babuli Mahalik, Panchanan Kanhar, Manoranjan Pradhan, Murali Mahalik, Gopal Naik, Prakash Behera, Dharmaraj Nayak, Subhaya Pradhan, and Manmath Kanhar. However, the trial against Gopal was abated due to his death during the proceedings. All the accused were convicted under Sections 29, 379 and 34 of the IPC, Section 9(B) of the Indian Explosives Act, Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act, Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, and Section 27 of the Odisha Forest Act.
CJM-cum-ASJ of Boudh Bisweswar Biswaprakash Ray awarded five-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) to Murali, Babuli, Prakash and Dharmaraj and also slapped a penalty of Rs 5,000 on them for offenses under Section 4 of the Explosive Substances Act. They were also sentenced to RI for three years and a fine of Rs 10,000 for offences under Sections 379 and 34 of IPC, RI for three years and a fine of Rs 10,000 for offences under Section 429 of IPC, and RI for one year and a fine for offences under Section 9(B) of the Indian Explosives Act. All sentences will run concurrently, the court said. The court issued non-bailable warrants (NBW) against the other accused, who are on the run.
According to the prosecution, at around 11am June 1, 2016, after receiving reliable information from the DVF team about the suspicious movement of nine individuals in Mundeswari reserve forest of Boudh, a team of the Boudh police conducted a raid. During the operation, nine individuals were intercepted, and elephant tusks, arms, explosives, and gunny bags were recovered from their possession.
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During search, three SBML guns were recovered from Manoranjan, Gopal and Prakash, an axe from Babuli and a gunny bag containing eight pieces of elephant tusks from Panchanan Kanhar. “A bag containing explosive materials, three small bottles, two syringes, pellets, a searchlight, a battery, a charger and a screwdriver were recovered from Murali,” the prosecution said, adding that during investigation, all the suspects confessed to killing the elephant and removing its tusks to sell them for monetary gains. The trial against the accused involved the examination of 22 witnesses and the submission of 19 documents by the prosecution. This marks the eleventh case handled by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Odisha Police where the accused have been convicted under the Wildlife Protection Act. To date, trials have been completed in 11 wildlife-related cases, all resulting in convictions.