5 poachers arrested in Tusker electrocution case in Keonjhar

Keonjhar: Atleast five poachers were arrested by the forest department in connection with electrocution of a tusker on Friday near Bhadimara village under Telkoi range in Keonjhar forest division.

The accused persons have been identified as Santosh Munda of Rugudi village, Mithun Padhan, Putru Padhan, Sudarshan Munda, and Jitu Munda of Jansanpur village. All the accused will be court forwarded today.

According to sources, the poachers had allegedly laid a trap using live electric wire to hunt wild boar. They had charged the trap by hooking a live 11 KV transmission line. The elephant came in contact and was electrocuted.

The forest department have seized electric wires and empty bottles from the spot.

The Forest authorities took the accused to the crime spot for scene recreation. A Joint task force team from Bhubaneswar examined the tusker’s body and confirmed that the elephant died of electrocution.

During the investigation, the Forest department got a clue about the involvement of the five poachers and subsequently arrested them.