With organised poaching syndicates striking at will, the Odisha Government has handed over investigation of the elephant killings that occurred in Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) to Crime Branch of the State Police.
The Crime Branch will also be mandated for investigating the recent poaching at Kuldiha and Satkosia sanctuaries. The poaching of two elephants in STR had taken place earlier this year, while the hunting at Kuldiha and Satkosia were reported only a few weeks back.
Additional Director-General of Police, Crime Branch, Bijay Kumar Sharma told this paper that a dedicated team will be constituted to take up the investigation.
Forest officials will also be taken on board to probe the link of local gangs as well as outsiders.
The Crime Branch, in 2007, had successfully blown the lid off a spate of poaching and ivory smuggling in the State. In fact, it had found that organised local gangs were constantly in touch with a particular tribe of Arunachal Pradesh for roping in hunters to poach elephants in Odisha.
This time, the Crime Branch has a task to probe similar trends in the poaching and smuggling of the tusks because most of the poaching have occurred in the same corridor. The 2007 investigation had revealed that one of the gangs was active in Similipal and its adjoining areas such as Karanjia.
Another syndicate operated in Baramba, Narasinghpur, Harbhanga, Nayagarh and Daspalla and the ring operators are locals and enjoy the patronage of local leadership. In fact, so bolstered has been the group that last year it had snatched an accused from the custody of forest officials. Earlier this year, the local forest officials faced serious challenge from poachers while going after them.
These two groups were found to have roped in the services of the Arunachal Pradesh tribe called “Lishu” who are adept in elephant hunting using poison-laced arrows.
The CB had found during its investigation that Lishu tribe members had stayed in a hotel in Baripada and after the poaching, the ivories removed from the elephants had found their way to Kolkata.
Frequent elephant hunting in Odisha has drawn sharp reactions from the Centre, which had asked for investigation and stringent punishment to the culprits.
During the last four years, at least 221 elephants have died in the State. The period 2009-10 had reported 51 deaths. The toll rose to 83 in 2010-11. In 2011-12, the casualties stood at 66, while the current year has seen 21 deaths. Over the last three years, Similipal alone has reported over 20 deaths prompting investigation by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.
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