The carcass of a gaur (Indian bison) was found on tracks near Falakata railway station in Alipurduar district on Monday.

Officers of the forest department started a probe to find out if the gaur had been run over by a train or it had died because of other reasons.

Residents of Gopanagar, which is in ward 17 of Falakata, spotted the carcass on the tracks on the New Jalpaiguri-New Alipurduar route.They informed railway officials about the matter and they reached the spot. A team of officers of the Jaldapara National Park also arrived.

“Usually, wild animals, mostly elephants, were hit by trains on the Dooars tracks(that connect Siliguri Junctionwith Alipurduar Junction). The New Jalpaiguri-New Alipurduar route is far from forest areas and it is rare for wild animals to stray into the area and get hit by trains,” said a forester.

Sources said if a train hit a wild animal, the loco pilot informed the nearest station about it. “But no such information was passed to any station along the route,” a source said.

Senior foresters said they were waiting for the post-mortem report to ascertain the cause of the gaur’s death.

“If it is found that the gaur died after being hit by a train, we will file a complaint with police,” said Deepak M, divisional forest officer of Jaldapara wildlife division.

The railway authorities too, are conducting an inquiry. “We can comment on it only after the probe is complete and we have adequate information,” said a railway official.

Timber seized

Teak logs worth Rs 25 lakh were seized from a truck at Jorai More in Boxirhat, Cooch Behar district, on Sunday night.

Boxirhat police which made the seizure said the truck had arrived from Assam and was loaded with bamboo. The truck was intercepted at a checkpoint set up by the police.

When the police searched the vehicle, teak logs measuring around 515 cubic feet were found hidden under the bamboo.

The truck was seized and three persons who were in the vehicle were arrested as they failed to produce documents to validate the transportation of the timber.

The arrested were Sainath Bagmare, Akash Hingde and Narsingh Naikbhau, all residents of Maharashtra.