KARUR: Police arrested a farmer on charges of poisoning 18 peafowls, including eight peahens, to death near K. Paramathi in Karur district on Wednesday night.
The K Paramathi police arrested the farmer Subramani of Athipalayam village for poisoning the peafowls to death.
According to forest officials, they received information on Tuesday night that several peafowls had been found dead in the agricultural fields at Athipalayam village near K. Paramathi. Following this, District Forest Officer (DFO) S. Shanmugam and Forest Range Officer Arivazhagan rushed to the spot. At the farm owned by a farmer, Subramani, they found 10 peacocks and 8 peahens lying dead.
The forest department alerted K. Paramathi Revenue Inspector Muthupiriyan, K. Paramathi police inspector Thangaraj, and Village Administrative Officer Kathirvel about the incident.
A team comprising revenue and police officials visited the spot and conducted an inquiry on Wednesday. During the investigation, forest officials suspected that the birds might have died after consuming food laced with poison.
A team of veterinarians from Kuppam and K. Paramathi arrived at the spot on Wednesday and conducted a post-mortem examination, which confirmed that the peafowls had died due to consuming poisoned food.
Following this, the police detained Subramani for questioning. Based on his statement, he was arrested on Wednesday night, produced before the Aravakurichi court, and remanded in judicial custody.
When contacted, District Forest Officer S. Shanmugam told TNIE that the farmer had cultivated groundnut and sesame crops. As peafowls are highly attracted to groundnuts, the accused had poisoned them, he said.