Bhubaneswar: Turam Purti, the only witness in the elephant carcass burning case by a forest department official of the Similipal Tiger Reserve breathed his last at the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack on Friday. Purti, who has been working as a protection assistant in the reserve forest, had consumed poison on Wednesday and was admitted to the SCBMCH.
According to reports, Purti had seen three forest department personnel – Siba Sankar Samal (in-charge range officer at Jenabil), Chandrabhanu and forest guard Binod Das – burning the elephant carcass. The three forest department staff had allegedly threatened Purti with dire consequences if he talked about the issue in public or informed the higher authorities.
Purti has been under stress since then and reportedly consumed poison at his workplace in the Similipal Tiger Reserve. His colleagues first took him to Jashipur hospital in a critical condition. As his condition deteriorated, Purti was shifted to SCB in Cuttack.
S K Popli, the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), told the media, adding, “It is now up to the police to look into the case of suicide. Appropriate action will be taken.”
Meanwhile, the police arrested the accused three forest staff on Wednesday under various Sections of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The three accused – Samal, Chandrabhanu and Das were suspended by the department on Monday for their alleged involvement in burning the jumbo carcass.
Purti and villagers of Bakua, a remote hamlet in the core area of Jenabil range, told the Wildlife department that the three accused had burnt the carcass of the young tusker on December 8. The tusk of the jumbo was found missing.
The search for the missing tusk and poachers is still on. While the Forest department officials denied that their staff had connived with the poachers to kill the elephant for its tusk, there were several instances of such connivance in the department in the past.
