BHUBANESWAR: The Keonjhar Forest Division has sent samples of the ivories recovered from its division on Saturday for genome sequencing to find whether they belong to the elephant found poached in the core of Similipal Tiger Reserve.
An official from the forest division said samples were sent to the Centre for Wildlife Health (CWH) at Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) in Bhubaneswar for genome sequencing to establish whether the tusks belong to the same elephant.
“We will also go for genome sequencing with samples of the tusker poached in Athagarh. However, priority has been given to Similipal as the tusks also seem to been removed in a relatively recent period,” he said.
Meanwhile, Keonjhar DFO Dhamdhere Dhanraj Hanumant said interrogation of the 34-year-old Bilash Mankadia, from whose possession the tusks were recovered from Melana village of Ghatagaon range, is continuing.
Apart from verifying the call detail records, forest officials have also found involvement of more persons in the case and operation has been launched to apprehend them, he informed this paper.
A team of forest officials from the division had carried out a decoy operation and apprehended the accused in Melana village and recovered two tusks, weighing around 10.16 kg, from his possession on Saturday afternoon.
During interrogation, the forest officials learnt that Mankadia belongs to Kendumundi village of Karanjia, the division adjacent to Similipal South from where the tusk-less elephant was found with its head sawed off three days back.
The division is also coordinating with senior officials and Joint Task Force members who are camping in Similipal to probe the poaching case.