Five poachers were arrested on Saturday for their alleged involvement in the death of an elephant near Bhadimara village under the Telkoi forest range in Keonjhar district.
The poachers have been identified as Santosh Munda, Mithun Padhan, Putaru Padhan, Sudarshan Munda, and Jitu Munda.
According to a source, the Forest authorities took the accused to the crime spot for scene recreation. The accused demonstrated how the electric wire they had laid out caused the death of the elephant.
As per sources, the poachers had laid out a wire hooked to an 11 KV line in the jungle to kill wild boars. They demonstrated how they had used glass bottles and dry twigs to lay the live wire. Instead of boars, an elephant came in contact with the live wire and was electrocuted.
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After the death of the elephant, they tried to do away with the evidence. They had thrown the wire into a pond near Rugudi Colony.
During the investigation, the Forest department got a clue about the involvement of the five poachers and subsequently arrested them.
“After coming to know about the involvement of the five accused, we visited their villages in the wee hours today and detained them. We interrogated them and after collecting evidence, we arrested them. They have been arrested on charges of poaching,” informed ACF in-charge of Telkoi range, Aziz Khan.