THENI: Forest department officials arrested two managers of an agricultural farm, co-owned by Theni MP O Ravindranath, in connection with the death of a male leopard on Saturday. The suspects were identified as Thangavel (42) and Rajavel (28). They were in charge of the farm near the Bodi reserve forest range.
Sources said a leopard had got stuck in the fence last Tuesday. Upon information, forest officials rushed to the spot and the leopard, which had by then escaped, attacked Assistant Conservator of Forest Mahendran before disappearing into the forest. However, on the same day, another leopard was found dead on the farm fence.
“Postmortem was performed on the carcass, and it is believed that the animal died in a rope swing trap affixed on the fence. This could not have been set up on the fence without the knowledge of Thangavel and Rajavel,” sources said.
The forest officials had earlier arrested Alexpandian, who had built a goat shed near the forest range in violation of norms. The leopards were attracted to the spot due to the goat shed, and two of the goats were attacked to death by a leopard recently, they added.