BHAWANIPATNA: The carcass of an adult elephant was found in a partially decomposed state from Ranibahal revenue forest on the outskirts of Karlapat wildlife sanctuary in Kalahandi's Thuamul Rampur block on Saturday.
The tushes of the female elephant, aged around 35 years, were missing from the carcass. It is believed that the jumbo got separated from its herd and died around 20 days back. On being informed, forest officials rushed to the spot, which is near Kardapadar beat under Silet panchayat.
During investigation, it was ascertained that one Dana Majhi of Surumundi village and his associates had removed the tushes from the carcass.
Kalahandi divisional forest officer (DFO), South T Ashok Kumar said the tushes were recovered from Dana's house. Two persons were also arrested for their involvement in removing the tushes. They are Sani Majhi of Surumundi and Prashant Kaushalya of Mutukuni.
However, prime accused Dana is on the run. The DFO informed that Dana has reportedly escaped to Rayagada district. The Rayagada forest officials have been informed and efforts are on to nab him, he added.
Sources said it is yet to be ascertained if the elephant was killed by poachers or died of any other cause. A veterinary team conducted postmortem of the carcass and samples of its lungs, intestine and bone marrow were sent to Animal Disease Research Institute, Cuttack and Centre for Wildlife Health at OUAT, Bhubaneswar for testing.
Kumar said the movement of the remaining elephants of the herd, which is roaming in and around the sanctuary, is being monitored with a joint team of Kalahandi and Rayagada forest personnel. This is the second elephant death reported from Karlapat wildlife sanctuary in the month.
In the first week of June, the carcass of a six-month-old calf was found at Katingkuna within the sanctuary. As many as nine elephants have died in and around the sanctuary in the last five months. In February this year, carcasses of five female elephants and two calves were found inside the sanctuary. The deaths were attributed to haemorrhagic septicemia.