Mahout arrested, elephant owner Yusuf & his son on the run
The 47-year-old elephant Laxmi, who went missing two months ago, was found by the Delhi Police near the banks of the Yamuna in New Delhi on Wednesday around 3.30am.
Police have arrested Laxmi’s mahout Saddam, while owner Yusuf Ali and his elder son are at large. According to a senior police official, Laxmi was found along with Saddam after a day long search by three teams who combed the area along the river banks in the eastern part of the city and the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi border.
“Saddam was produced before a court. Earlier Laxmi was kept at the Shakarpur Police Station but was later shifted to the Delhi Government’s nursery at ITO from where she will be taken to the Ban Santoor elephant rehabilitation centre in Yamunanagar in Haryana,” said the senior police official.
The elephant belongs to Ali’s family residing in Shakarpur. Since he could not make proper arrangements for the animal’s upkeep, the forest department had issued a seizure notice in February.
Ali then moved the Delhi High Court, which said the forest department can seize the elephant only when necessary arrangements for its transfer to the new site have been made.
“On July 1, the forest department got the go ahead from the Ban Santoor elephant rehabilitation centre to transfer the elephant. On July 6, when a forest department team came to take the elephant they were allegedly attacked by Ali, his son and their relatives.
In the commotion, the mahout fled with the elephant and disappeared into a wooded area in the Yamuna floodplains near the Akshardham temple,” said the forest official.
“In August, the forest department wrote to the chief wildlife wardens of all states asking them to alert it if they come to know about the whereabouts of the elephant. The department also alerted the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau as it suspected the elephant could have been taken to Nepal,” the forest official said.
“After we received specific inputs regarding the hideout of Saddam, we also filed a complaint with police and requested them to increase patrolling in the Yamuna Pusta area as we suspected the elephant was being kept somewhere there,” said the forest official.
Laxmi, one of only two elephants in the city outside the Delhi zoo, was detained and will be kept in a rehabilitation centre in Haryana.
Kartick Satyanarayan, Co-founder and CEO of Wildlife SOS, said “We are finally relieved to see that the Forest department and the police have successfully seized Delhi’s last elephant, and moved her to a rehabilitation centre where she can recuperate and live with dignity and freedom.
“The Elephant Rehabilitation Center, run by Wildlife SOS in collaboration with Haryana Forest Department in Yamuna Nagar district is a large forested facility where this elephant will find a peaceful retirement from a lifelong of suffering,” he said.
Dr Yaduraj Khadpekar, Assistant Director, Veterinary and Research of Wildlife SOS said, “The elephant is in poor health due to severe neglect and complete lack of medical care, coupled with years of poor nutrition. She will require long term medical care and specialised treatment.”
