DHENKANAL: A day after a farmhouse owner and his two associates were arrested for allegedly killing a male elephant and burying its carcass, the Forest department on Tuesday suspended the Hindol forester for negligence in duty.
Forester Dipti Ranjan Acharya was placed under suspension by regional chief conservator of forests (RCCF), Angul circle Sanjay Swain. Dhenkanal divisional forest officer Lalit Patra also issued a show-cause notice to Hindol ranger Trilochan Dehury for dereliction of duty.
On the day, the three accused - farmhouse owner Pramod Raj, earthmover operator Sudhir Bhutia and watchman Rajiv Chaudhury - were produced before the local JMFC court. They were remanded in judicial custody after their bail pleas were rejected.
During raids conducted jointly by the forest and police officials in the last two days, several cannabis plants were found on the premises of Pramod’s farmhouse. Raj had also allegedly encroached upon a large tract of forest land adjoining his property, said officials.
According to investigation, Raj had allegedly electrified the solar fencing around his farmhouse to protect his mango orchard from elephant raids during the fruiting season. On Thursday night, a 40-year-old elephant reportedly came in contact with the live fence while attempting to enter the orchard and died on the spot.
Instead of informing forest officials, Raj allegedly arranged for the carcass to be buried using an earthmover. The incident, however, came to the notice of forest authorities through intelligence inputs and was later confirmed using drone surveillance.
The elephant’s carcass was exhumed on Monday following which forest officials arrested the three accused.
