The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into a series of elephant poaching incidents reported in the State. Most of the incidents took place in a decade prior to 2015 and allegedly involved influential persons.
A Division Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Sathish Kumar observed that the crimes indicated that the network involved was cutting across boundaries. This was not a mere case of poaching, but a demand was created by customers and the names would tumble out after the investigation.
The court took note of the report submitted by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, which carried out an extensive study in this regard. Statements of the accused in the case revealed that the customers included influential people and an extract from the diary of one of the accused revealed contact numbers and bank transactions.
The judges observed that the greed of man could be seen in the transactions. Poaching was done not for livelihood, but for international trade and sadistic pleasure in creating art in fellow living beings. The amount of ivory recovered in the cases were too large, the judges said.
Pointing to one case, they said as per the report, 300 kg of ivory was recovered and eight male elephants had been killed. Though the State submitted that arrests were made in these cases, the judges said they were at the bottom of the chain and middlemen and kingpins were untouched.
Though the report was made available in 2019, the authorities concerned remained ignorant. Forests were protected by forest guards and watchers. How the incidents escaped their eyes was a mystery and raised serious concern, the judges said.
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau could also assist in the investigation. The court said it would monitor the case and sought a report from the CBI in three months.
In a related case pertaining to electrocution of elephants in Megamalai Wildlife Division, the judges said it had to be ascertained if the deaths were due to the powerlines or any individuals were involved. The court directed Tangedco, Forest and Revenue Departments to act in unison in the issue.
The court observed that though a report was submitted in the case, there was only slow progress. The court directed the authorities to conduct a meeting and file a report. The report should be comprehensive and the steps initiated must be for the whole of Tamil Nadu and not just Megamalai, the judges said. The case was adjourned till June 10.
