The Madras High Court on Wednesday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), comprising Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, State police officers and Forest Department officials, to probe 19 elephant death cases reported in the Megamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, the Sathyamangalam forest division, the Erode division and the Hasanur division between 2014 and 2018.
Justices V. Bharathidasan and N. Sathish Kumar ordered that the SIT comprise CBI Superintendent of Police (SP) Nirmala Devi, former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Shekhar Kumar Niraj, Tamil Nadu Forest Training College principal R. Rajmohan, Deputy Superintendent of Police Santhosh Kumar of the State Police Department and Additional Superintendent of Police Mohan Nawas serving in the Naxalite Special Division in the Nilgiris.
The SIT was constituted since there was a delay in the CBI investigation into the cases. The judges made it clear that the SIT would be at liberty to engage police and forest officers, after obtaining permission from these departments, for an extensive investigation. The team was also given the powers to conduct the investigation under the Code of Criminal Procedure as well as the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
