A body of a female elephant with injury mark was recovered from a paddy field of Suasposh village under Banki forest range of Sundargarh district on Wednesday.
A team of forest officials reached the spot and started an investigation. The elephant is suspected to have been killed by locals, since they were unhappy with it moving in their locality and damaging the crop.
Sources said that on Wednesday morning, the forest officials had received information about death of the female elephant. A team of forest officials under the leadership of Assistant Conservator of Forest Dilip Sahoo rushed to the spot and recovered the body.
A team of veterinary officials conducted the post mortem before burying the elephant. An unnatural death case was registered. “We suspect the elephant might have been killed by locals since there is injury marks on the body of the elephant," said ACF Sahoo.
“We also seized large quantity of electric wire from the villagers on Tuesday evening, which they might have used to electrocute the elephant," Sahoo informed, adding the culprits would be arrested soon.