Three persons were arrested on Sunday in connection with the death of the elephant that had been rescued with multiple gunshot injuries in the Kholo Beat area of Narsinghpur West Range under the Athagarh Forest Division of Cuttack district.
A special team of the Forest Department arrested Surjyamani Nayak, Gangadhar Nayak and Dibakar Sahoo, all residents of the Narasinghpur area. The team also seized a pellet gun from the possession of one of the accused during search of his house.
The main accused in the case is absconding and a hunt is on to arrest him with the help of police.
A case has been registered under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and all the accused were forwarded to court on Monday.
In an another development in the case of unearthing of body parts of a male elephant in the Salakund area of Janipadar Beat of Gopapur Section of the Badamba Range on June 14 by staffs of Athagarh Forest Division, a Forest Guard Pravat Kumar Pradhan who was working earlier in the same beat was suspended.
Later, he forwarded to court. Two watchers involved in the same case have been already arrested and forwarded to court earlier.
