5 forest staff booked for burning elephant carcass in MP

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Delhi on Thursday registered a case against a forester, a forest guard and three forest watchmen for burning the carcass of a dead wild elephant

Five Madhya Pradesh Forest Department staff stationed at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve were booked on Thursday under Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 for destroying the evidence of a wild elephant’s death by burning its carcass in November, said officials on Saturday.

The incident took place in November 2022. (Representational image)

Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey had reported the matter and filed a complaint in January this year about the incident that took place in November 2022, said people aware of the matter.

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Delhi on Thursday registered a case against a forester, a forest guard and three forest watchmen for burning the carcass of a dead wild elephant and burying the ashes in six deep pits to hide the death, confirmed an official of WCCB, who did not wish to be named.

Madhya Pradesh chief wildlife warden JS Chauhan also confirmed the news and said that an investigation is underway.

A WCCB officer said the Madhya Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) is investigating the matter and “Questioning is underway to ascertain the reason why the step (burning of carcass) was taken,” said the official.

“The forest officials said they found the semi-decomposed body of the elephant in Chhatwa village of Panpatha buffer zone of Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) in Shahdol in November 2022. They got scared of action that will be taken by higher officials for failing to monitor the death of a wild elephant, so they destroyed the evidence of death,” said the official, adding that the statements of the accused on why they burnt the carcass were found unsatisfactory.

Complainant Ajay Dubey said the matter was probed only after his complaint to the Union environment ministry and National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). “I submitted the complaint with photos and videos. It was a matter of poaching only and forest official hatched conspiracy to hide the matter.”

“This incident puts a question mark on the security arrangements in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve. It is known to all that for many years the maximum number of tigers in India have been hunted in Madhya Pradesh, in which Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve is at the top, but in spite of this there was a lack of patrolling and monitoring due to criminal negligence, which led to the hunting of elephants and burning of evidence,” he added.

As many 40 elephants have come to Madhya Pradesh from the Chhattisgarh in the past three years and made colonies here at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in Shahdol and Umaria, said a forest official.