More heads are likely to roll over the alleged cover-up of the electrocution death of an elephant in Odisha, with the state’s forest department now asking the Baliguda divisional forest officer (DFO) to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him – signalling an expanding probe.
The carcass was found on January 5 inside Belghar reserve forest under Baliguda division, but forest officials had allegedly cut it into 32 pieces and buried it across Kandhamal and Kalahandi districts to avoid departmental action.
The carcass was eventually recovered on January 19 after some locals alerted the department and alleged a cover-up. In the show-cause notice to Baliguda DFO Ghanashyam Mahanta on February 13, the forest department said his decision not to visit the area himself and instead send a subordinate for an enquiry amounted to “negligence and dereliction of statutory duty”.
“Even after knowing about the incidence [sic], you did not conduct enquiry yourself and entrusted the enquiry to Manoranjan Bagha, ACF without realising the gravity of the offence which speaks of your casual attitude and shifting of responsibility. You also did not take any step to ascertain the cause of death of the elephant and detect the offenders,” the notice said.
Accusing officials of connivance, it claimed that the department had called for “a thorough and timely enquiry to ascertain the offenders and their arrest”. “But no action has been taken by you as of now in this regard,” it stated.
The forest department has already suspended Binaya Kumar Bishi, the official in charge of Belghar Range, for alleged suppression of facts and tampering with evidence, and an assistant conservator of forests (ACF) for “dereliction of duty”.
A case has also been registered against Bishi — allegedly on the run since the incident came to light — as well as his driver and two private individuals. The vehicles and excavators allegedly used to move the carcass have been impounded.
