Bhubaneswar: Three forest department employees who had been suspended for their involvement in alleged poaching and burning of the carcass of a wild tusker in the Similipal Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj district have been arrested.
The arrestees have been identified as Jenabil ranger in-charge Shiv Shankar Samal, forester Chandrabhanu Behera, and forest guard Binod Kumar Das.
Reportedly, some of the forest staff burnt an elephant and threw the charred remains to a nearby stream to destroy the evidence after poachers killed the jumbo and removed its tusks in the core area of the tiger reserve.
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), Wildlife, Sushil Kumar Popli had said the Similipal field director had received an anonymous call that such an incident had happened.
After the preliminary investigation, the three forest officials were suspended. They were subsequently booked under relevant sections of the Wildlife Protection Act.
