COIMBATORE: A 53-year-old man from Karnataka was arrested for allegedly killing an elephant for its tusks in Thalavady in Erode.
The accused, S Bomman, 53 from Samraj Nagar in Karnataka along with his accomplices had allegedly gunned down the elephant and extracted its tusks to trade them in the illegal wildlife market.
A team of frontline staff of the forest department noticed the decayed carcass of the elephant during the routine perambulation at Kumtapuram on April 22. After a post-mortem examination, the decayed carcass of the 18-year-old animal was left as a prey for other wild animals. A case was registered and three special teams were formed to crack down on the case.
The special teams had zeroed down on the main accused on Saturday. “He is a habitual offender involved in several cases of poaching in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Three more persons were suspected to be part of the network involved in the poaching case,” said an official.
The forest department found the case challenging as all the accused were from the neighbouring state of Karnataka.
“The police with the assistance of cybercrime sleuths traced the main accused over the past 20 days and caught him after a meticulous plan in a joint operation with Karnataka police and forest personnel of the neighbouring state. Bomman is the mastermind behind the gang,” added the officer.
Following his arrest, the forest department also recovered a pair of tusks from his possession. He was then produced in a court in Sathyamangalam and lodged in prison.