Palakkad Elephant Death: Kerala Forest Department Arrests First Culprit

PALAKKAD: One person has been arrested in the case relating to the death of a pregnant wild elephant in Kerala. The brutal death of the elephant sparked outrage across the nation.

"KFD (Kerala Forest Deaprtment) has zeroed in on the culprits and recorded the first arrest in the wild elephant death case", the department said in a tweet on Friday.

The arrested man is a rubber tapper, according to Palakkad district police chief G Siva Vikram. The man, who is in his forties, allegedly handled explosives and also assisted others, according to Chief Wildlife Warden Surendra Kumar, a leading channel reported on Friday.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday took to Twitter on Thursday and said that 'justice will prevail' and that culprits will be booked soon. He also said that communal colour given to the incident thereby unleashing a 'hate campaign'.

“An investigation is underway, focusing on three suspects. The police and forest departments will jointly investigate the incident. The district police chief and the district forest officer visited the site today. We will do everything possible to bring the culprits to justice," the CM said in a series of tweets.

A Special Investigation team was set up for probing the death of the elephant, which took place in Mannarkad Forest division in Palakkad district late last month. The incident came to light after Mohan Krishnan, a forest officer, posted an emotional note on his Facebook page, narrating it.

Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar condemned the incident, saying "This is not an Indian culture to feed fire crackers and kill." "We will not leave any stone unturned to investigate properly and nab the culprit(s)," he tweeted on Thursday.

The 15-year-old elephant is suspected to have consumed a pineapple filled with powerful fire crackers, which exploded in its mouth in the Silent Valley forest. She walked in deep agony for days and finally died standing at Velliyar River on May 27. The post-mortem revealed that the pachyderm was pregnant.