COIMBATORE: District Munsif -cum- Judicial Magistrate (JM) of Principal District Munsif cum Judicial Magistrate Court, Gudalur R Sasin Kumar has sentenced two plantation owners to three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 each, on the charge of the death of a wild elephant due to electrocution in 2000.
The two owners, identified as K Manickam (64) and K Prabhakaran (65), are residents of Vadavayal of Gudalur in Nilgiris district. Another accused, Haridoss, was acquitted by the court. According to sources, a 15-year-old tusker was found dead after being electrocuted at Manickam’s grove in Vadavayal Gudalur forest range in 2000 and it was later found that he had given illegal power supply to his solar fence during night to prevent elephants from damaging his grove from his neighbour, Prabhakaran.
The JM praised Gudalur forest guard R Sivakumar for following the case and attending the proceedings since 2015 and directed Nilgiris DFO Kommu Omkaram to appoint separate and dedicated forest department staff to speed up pending wildlife offence cases to get speedy punishment for the suspects.
Wildlife activists have expressed happiness as the two-decade-old case was solved and congratulated the Tamil Nadu forest department for legally punishing the accused.