CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu Forest Department to file a status report regarding the action taken on the recent poaching of an elephant for its tusks.

On Friday, a special bench of Justice N Sathish Kumar and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy sat to hear forest related cases.

Senior counsel T Mohan, mentioned an unknown poaching gang that hunted an elephant at Neruppur, Dharmapuri (near Pennagaram), for its tusk and set the carcass on fire to erase evidence. The counsel sought the court’s direction to nab the offenders.

After hearing the contention, the bench directed TN to file a status report and posted the matter to March 13, for further proceedings.

On March 1, a forest guard found an elephant carcass on fire at the interstate border of TN and Karnataka near the Cauvery river. Based on the information given by the forest guard, the anti-poaching unit rushed to the spot and did a preliminary investigation, which revealed that the tusks were removed. Later, a report was filed before the judicial magistrate in Pennagaram.