Udhagamandalam: The manager of a resort in the Bokkapuram area where the carcass of an elephant was found on Thursday was arrested for leaving a pit on the premises uncovered.
The carcass of the animal, found to be a ‘makna’ and aged around 9, was found in a private land that falls under the Singara range of forests in the Nilgiris. The preliminary postmortem report suggested the jumbo died of acute lung infection. However, when forest officials inspected the private land, a pit was found not closed.
“K Manjunath, 35, manager of ‘Wild Inn’ resort, was arrested on Friday under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, for negligence. The Bokkapuram area is known for elephant movements,” said S Kalanidhi, district forest officer (north Division).
“We are searching for four others in connection with this case,” he added.
S Ummar, S Sivamohan, M Mohamed Basheer and A Abdul Nazer, co-owners of the property, are the other four accused.
