5 Poachers Arrested in Keonjhar for Electrocuting Elephant to Death

Keonjhar: Five poachers were arrested by the personnel of the forest department in relation to the electrocution death of a wild elephant near Bhadimara village under Telkoi range in Keonjhar forest division on Friday.

The arrested poachers were Santosh Munda of Rugudi village, Mithun Padhan, Putru Padhan, Sudarshan Munda, and Jitu Munda of Jansanpur village.

These poachers had allegedly laid an electric trap that was hooked to a live 11 KV transmission line at a distance of about one kilometre. They claimed that they had set the trap to kill wild boars but a tusker got caught in it.

The accused persons had tried to destroy evidence following the death of the elephant by removing the wire and the glass bottles used in the trap, which they threw into a pond at Rugudi village.

The forest department officials have seized the wire and the bottles used in the trap.