A wild elephant died allegedly after it came in contact with a live wire at the Bantoli Jhatangidipa forest in Bharno block of Jharkhand’s Gumla district on Wednesday.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) Gumla Shrikant Verma, who reached the spot on Wednesday morning, said prima facie it appears that the tusker, aged between 13 and 14 years, had died of electrocution from the wire.

“We have identified the landowner and a case under Wildlife Protection Act 1972 would be lodged against him (for scheduled one animal like elephant the minimum jail term is two years extending up to six years and a fine ranging between Rs 5,000 and Rs 25,000).

“Villagers in the Bharno block do illegal trade of cutting and selling Sal trees in the forest, which is a source of food for the elephant.

“This apart, there are human dwellings and fields set up along elephant corridors, which results in elephants intruding into human habitats and farmlands in search of food.

“To protest their crops, the villagers put electrical wires, which too is illegal and end up in such casualties,” the officer said.

Though this is the first such instance in the Gumla district, a similar instance had taken place in Bero near Ranchi in 2019.

The forest official along with circle officer Bharno Sanjeev Kumar has collected the viscera of vital organs of the elephants.

Later the tusker was buried at the spot by digging a trench using a JCB (heavy earth excavation machine).

“We will send the viscera to Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, for post mortem. Though, prima facie there appears to be a cardiac failure due to electric shock and burnt marks on different parts of the body.

“It might have been electrocuted on Tuesday late night but we got the information on Wednesday morning from some villagers,” the divisional forest officer said.