Special Team To Investigate Jumbo Deaths In Odisha; DFO Removed From Probe Panel

Bhubaneswar: The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Odisha, has constituted a special investigation team to probe the death and recovery of skeletal remains of elephants from the Athagarh forest division in Cuttack district.

The Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) will head the three-member probe panel, which will comprise a wildlife conservator and a senior official of the Crime Branch. The DFO will no longer be a part of the investigation, sources said.

While skeletal remains of an elephant were exhumed from Athagarh forest division by forest officials while investigating the case of the recovery of skeletons of two elephants in the Badamba range, a sub-adult tusker succumbed to bullet injureis in the same forest division on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) asked the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) Odisha to investigate and file a detailed report on it.

“Elephants are our heritage animal and have been given the highest protection under the WLP Act. The Ministry has taken cognisance of the incident and the matter has been taken up with the state government for strict action against the poachers to ensure protection of our wildlife heritage,” Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav tweeted.