Two persons, including Sarpanch of Raghunath Nagar village in Surajpur district, were arrested for taking out a dead elephant's tusk and bones and trying to sell it, forest officials said here on Tuesday.
“On June 1 we came to know that a male elephant had died deep inside the jungles of Tamor Pingla sanctuary. The death was natural. However, its tusk and bones were missing,” Deputy Director elephant reserve Surguja, Arvind PM (IFS) said.
The wild elephant’s carcass was decomposed when we found it, so by looking at its condition it was assumed that the animal would have died four to five days ago before we spotted it, Arvind said.
An investigation was launched into the case and the tusk and bones were seized from Munnalal a resident of Sonhat village of Surguja district and Manmohan Charva. Charva is the Sarpanch of Raghunath Nagar village, he said.
The duo was booked under Section 9 of the Wild Life Protection Act and have been sent to jail, Arvind said while adding that involvement of other people in the case is under investigation.
