GUWAHATI: Six persons have been arrested by a team from the state forest department in connection with the electrocution of two wild Asian elephants at Digholdorioli in Upper Assam’s Sivasagar district, sources confirmed on Monday.
A case has been booked by the Sivasagar range under Sivasagar Territorial Forest Division against the accused for violating the provisions of section 9 read with section-2 (16) and (35) and section 52 and punishable as per the section-51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 along with the Assam Amendment Act, 2009.
Wild Asian elephants are Schedule I species protected under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
“The arrested accused caused the death of the two elephants by laying an illegal electric fence around rabi crops in an illegal cultivation area at Digholdorioli grazing land on Saturday,” an official statement issued on Monday said.
The forest team seized material evidence from the grazing land and the preliminary report by the veterinary officer conducting the post mortem on the spot also revealed that the female elephants, aged 23 and 26 years, died because of electrocution after coming in contact with the electric fence.
“The six accused were apprehended on December 26, 2020, on the day of detection of the offence by the team from the Sivasagar forest division. After interrogation and investigation, the accused persons were arrested and produced at the CJM court in Sivasagar and sent to judicial custody,” the statement said.
The Wildlife (Protection) Assam Amendment Act 2009 provides enhanced punishment and penalties for offences committed under the Act which are triable in the Court of Sessions.
