Forest officials on Saturday arrested and forwarded to court four poachers, who were involved in poaching animals like deer and wild pigs.
The arrested poachers were identified as Bamadeb Pradhan of Kandhadeobhuin village, Sankar Parida of Kandhal village, Niranjan Aruka and Santosh Guru of Deobhuin village under the Narsinghpur block in the district.
They were earlier detained in connection with the death of a male elephant in Narsinghpur West Range few days ago. Information about some more accused involved in the above case has been received and further investigation is going on to nab the culprits, said Athagarh DFO Sudarshan Gopinath Jadav.
In another development, an accused, Dhaneshwar Behera, of village Satgocchia under the Badamba police station in Cuttack district was also arrested and forwarded to court after his involvement was found in the poaching of a male elephant in Janipadar Beat of Badamba Range in Athagarh Forest Division.
He had been arrested earlier also for his involvement in the poaching of two tuskers in Badamba Forest Range in February, 2018. He is also involved in killing of a tusker in the Vegia area of Hindol Forest Range of Dhenkanal Forest Division in February 2021.
