One tusk has been recovered in Garu under Latehar district. Field director Palamu Tiger Reserve, Mohan Lal said the recovery of this tusk has been done by a team of PTR officials and Garu police station jointly on the night of Wednesday in Garu.
The joint team recovered more than 2 lakhs cash and tusk from the house of Birender Singh, a quack by profession. However, Lal said the Wild Life offender Birender Singh managed to escape but the forest department personnel would find him out.
Lal said, “Only last Saturday January 19 I had set up special investigation team to crack this case and on January 23 night we recovered one tusk. It is a big work done by our team and Garu police too. Birender Singh who is absconding cannot go any far. We will get him soon.”
Carcass of an elephant was found 200 meters away from Jawa Bridge with its single tusk gone on January 16.
Sources said the cause of its death is still shrouded inmystery as to with what weapon after all this elephant was killed.
This enigma arose as when the metal detector was taken on its body to get signal (read beep sound) for any metal (read bullet) in the body the metal detector remained mute.
Lal said, “This is what I have been saying from the very start of this discovery of the carcass that metal detector found no trace of presence of metal in the body.”
Lal urged for not hazarding any guess with regard to weapon used to kill this elephant.
The Field Director said, “We are verifying if the recovered tusk is of the same elephant which we found dead and its single tusk missing near Jawa Bridge on January 16.”
He said, “ Let the absconding Birender Singh be nabbed and then the curtain will rise over this recovery of tusk but I say with confidence that recovery of tusk is a major breakthrough in the case and the offender will be most suitably dealt with under the law of the land.”
Ranger Chhipadohar East Ashok Kumar said sections 9, 27, 29, 31,39, 48A and 52 A of Wild Life Protection Act 1972 have been invoked against Birender Singh.
Sources said Birender Singh lives with his family as a tenant in the house of a popular resident of Garu called Suresh Ram alias Santosh Baitha.
The joint raid was conducted with as many as 75 officials which included DFO South Mukesh Kumar, two ACFs Madanjeet Singh and S P Khess, two rangers Ashok Kumar and Uma Shanker Singh, forest guards of five ranges namely Betla, Chhipadohar East & West and Garu East & West.
The recovered tusk weighs little over one and a half kilogram with forty two centimeters in length.