Wilson, a farmer from Edavanna in Malappuram district was arrested on Friday by Kerala Police in connection with the gruesome death of a pregnant elephant which was fed coconut stuffed with explosives.

According to sources in the police team probing the incident, Wilson  said that the coconut stuffed with explosives was placed in the farm to get rid of pigs which frequently raided the crops. Though initially it was reported that the elephant had bitten explosive-laden pineapple, it turned out to be a coconut filled with deadly explosives.

The police is in search of Abdul Kareem and his son Riyazuddeen, owners of the farm where Wilson is employed as a labour. Kareem and Riazuddeen are absconding and it is believed that they would surrender before the police late this evening or on Saturday. Sources in the investigation team said that both Kareem and Riazuddeen were into poaching of wild animals in a big way. Wilson was an expert in assembling explosives and stuffing it in fruits to trap the animals.

The police has filed cases against the three under various sections of the Kerala Forest Act and Wildlife Protection Act. If proved correct, the accused could be sentenced up to seven years imprisonment. 

Forest officials with whom The Pioneer spoke were of the view that the elephant was from the Silent Valley Reserve Forest and had trespassed into the farm lands in the periphery of the forest. “It is difficult to pinpoint the exact spot where the incident happened. It could be either in Malappuram or Palakkadu districts. The vast farm land stretches across the two districts,” said Mohan Krishna, the Forest official who broke the news to the outside world through his social media posting.

He said it was not with any ulterior intention that the Forest Department said the incident might have taken place in either Malappuram or Palakkadu distrocts. “When we understood that the incident happened at Mannarakkadu, we corrected the same immediately,” he said.

Kerala based Cyber Warriors hacked the website of People For Animal, a portal belonging to  the NGO led by Maneka Gandhi, former union minister for environment for her reported outburst against Malappuram district while condemning the incident.

Muslim League leader P K Kunhalikutty MP and K C Venugopal of nthe Congress along with the CPI(M), CPI leaders condemned the BJP and Sangh Parivar organisations  for their efforts to communalize the issue.