DHENKANAL: The Forest authorities on Tuesday suspended a forester and arrested two youths in connection with the electrocution death of an elephant in a farmland under Sadangi range of Dhenkanal division around two days ago.
Dhenkanal divisional forest officer (DFO) Lait Mohan Patra suspended Kankaria forester Prakash Barik for dereliction of duty which contributed to the female elephant’s death.
The arrested duo, Manas Goia and Kusa Sidhu, both 25-year-old residents of Srimantapur under Nihalprasad police limits, had allegedly charged a solar fence around their agriculture field with electricity, resulting in the death of the pachyderm, aged around 20-25 years.
The DFO also disengaged forest squad member Manas Mohapatra from squad duty following investigation.
The carcass of the elephant was found near Srimantapur village on Monday morning. Preliminary probe revealed that the elephant had died after coming in contact with a solar fence connected to a live wire.