ERODE: Three people, one of them a 17-year-old boy, were nabbed on Sunday for stealing a pair of tusks from the carcass of a tusker in TN Palayam forest range in the district.
A forest officer said the tusker was found dead with its tusks chopped off in Anthiyur forest area a month ago. “We subsequently registered a case and initiated the inquiry. We found out that the tusks were stolen by Sengottaiyan, 40, Sadaiyappan, 45, and the 17-year-old boy, and the trio confessed to the crime during the interrogation.”
The officer said the trio had sold the tusks to a gang. “They haven’t so far revealed the names of the buyers.”
The trio, all residents of Athiyur Pudur village, were booked under various sections of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and arrested on Sunday. “They were later produced before the Gobichettipalayam sub-court, which remanded them in judicial custody. While Sengottaiyan and Sadaiyappan were lodged in Gobichettipalayam sub-jail, the minor boy was sent to the borstal school at Pollachi in Coimbatore district. Further investigation is on to track down the people who bought the tusks from the trio,” the officer said.
