Dhenkanal: Acting on a tip-off, forest officials Monday arrested a poacher in connection with the death of a 25-year-old tusker at a jungle near Karnapur beat house under Hindol forest range in this district June 12.
The accused has been identified as Biswanath Samal, 58. The forest officials also seized some wires from his possession.
Samal confessed to the crime during interrogation before assistant conservator of forest Jitendranath Das said.
The matter came to the fore after forest officials recovered the carcass Wednesday. Preliminary probe indicated that the animal might have died of electrocution. Forest officials started an investigation as they conducted a post-mortem of the carcass and buried it at the spot.
When contacted, divisional forest officer Sudarshan Patra said the tusker was moving in the area with no report of illness but its sudden death has raised doubts. He said that the actual reason behind the animal’s death was ascertained after completion of the investigation and receipt of the post-mortem report.
Following the autopsy, the forest officials conducted a thorough probe during which it was learnt that Samal was a regular offender and used to kill animals like boars and rabbits for meat.
Accidentally, the tusker that had strayed into the village came in contact with the live wires he had spread to poach wild boras and got electrocuted. Samal also suffered injuries on his left leg over some reason.
PNN