CHENNAI: A 40-year-old female elephant died of electrocution on the wee hours of Friday at Hasanur forest division in Erode district. The accused farmer who erected the live wire was arrested and produced before the court and remanded till December 23.
Meanwhile, Hasanur forest officials confirmed to DT NEXT that rumours of the elephant being in an advanced stage of pregnancy are untrue.
Deputy Director of Hasanur Devendra Kumar Meena said, “There is a farm land near the poramboke land where the carcass of the elephant was found by villagers on December 9. Later during the investigation, it came to know that S Madeva (67), a farmer living in the area had put wire fences to stop wild boar from entering into the farmland.”
“Subsequently, the farmer had charged the fence with electric supply. Due to this, the elephant in the early hours of December 9 had approached the fence and was electrocuted. However, there were very few external injuries to the animal to prove electrocution, ” noted the DD.
But, after the autopsy, the forest officials had confirmed the death of the animal due to electrocution. And upon further investigation it had revealed that Medeva had supplied the whole boundary with electricity in the night, said officials.
“Once the accused farmer had come to know of the elephant's death, he had removed the live electric wire. However, upon investigation, he confessed to the crime, ” added the DD. Also, the DD clarified the rumors of the elephant being pregnant during the incident to be untrue.
Meanwhile it is important to note that a panel formed to probe the death of elephants in Tamil Nadu was dissolved this year.
Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!
Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!
Click here for iOS
Click here for Android