On Sunday morning, an elephant was reported to be lying on a field in the midst of Chamakpur forest under Balibandh sections of Champua range in Keonjhar district.
It is alleged that the Forest department staff were taking the matter very lightly by saying that the dead elephant was a calf of 6/7 years old having no tusk, but Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Joda, Madhab Chowdhury, who had come to the spot to perform the postmortem, had some doubt.
It was Dr Chowdhury who insisted to see the other side of the elephant by turning down it and it was found that the elephant had a tusk grounded deep in to the mud.
The tusk was found to be of two and a half kg and analysing the tusk, the age of elephant was determined to be 20 years.
The claims of the forest department including that of DFO Santosh Joshi proved wrong.
After the news of false report of the Forest department spread, there was much concern in the mind of environmentalists and wildlife lovers who expressed their dissatisfaction in the poor wildlife management by the Keonjhar Forest Division and demanded an overhaul of the setup of the division.