Bhubaneswar: The Forest Department has suspended two of its officials on charges of dereliction of duty recently.
According to sources, the decomposed body of an elephant was found in the reserve forest of Jarapada range in Angul district, about eight days ago.
The Forest department had initiated a probe to ascertain the reason behind the pachyderm’s death.
The action was taken against a forester and a forest guard after an investigation revealed their alleged involvement in it. Similarly, police arrested a villager of Rodsinga on charges of stealing elephant tusks.
DFO informed that the elephant’s tusk was also recovered from the poacher.
The elephant’s death is suspected to have happened more than a month ago, as its body parts had decayed. On June 28, the mutilated body of the elephant was found in the Mankadakanda nullah of Jarapada forest range.
Concerned over the elephant’s death, Angul Regional Chief Conservator of Forest Sudhansu Sekhar Khara and DFO Nitish Kumar along with a team from Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology rushed to the spot and began an investigation into it, sources said
