BHUBANESWAR: Months after Athagarh ranger was suspended for allegedly keeping the Forest department in dark about the death of an elephant for over a year, the forest division is in news again after recovery of another carcass in Narasinghpur range. This time too, the elephant carcass was allegedly buried without the knowledge of the higher-ups in the department.
The Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch that went to the site in Narasinghpur west range to recover the carcass allegedly faced stiff resistance from some forest watchers.PCCF Shashi Paul has ordered an inquiry and directed the Angul RCCF and Athagarh DFO to submit a report in this regard at the earliest. The STF is also probing the matter.
An eight-member STF team headed by an additional SP rank officer recovered the carcass from Balikiari forest under Barasingha section of Narasinghpur west range in presence of an executive magistrate. When the matter came to light on Tuesday, Athagarh DFO Sudarsan Gopinath Jadav visited the spot. The Angul RCCF will also visit the spot to inquire about the incident.
Forest officials will probe whether any carcass was buried in the location in the past as the decomposed bones seem to be a year old. STF, however, suspects that the carcass would be around three months old. A team of veterinary experts from OUAT will carry out the postmortem of the carcass.
Meanwhile, the incident has put the Athagarh division in a fix as it has already faced embarrassment last year over burial of a carcass in violation of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). A 15-year-old tusker was buried in Subasi reserve forest without following due procedure and the tusks recovered were also not deposited with the division office in violation of the SOP. The Forest department suspended Athagarh forest ranger Aisha Akhtari Nisha in connection with the incident in November, 2021.