Kerala Pregnant Elephant's Death: One Of The Accused Surrenders Before Court After 1.5 Years

In May 2020, a 15-year-old pregnant elephant died after it consumed a pineapple laced with explosives that blew in its mouth.

Two kumki elephants recovering the carcass of the deceased jumbo | Credit: ANI

Chennai: One of the accused in the case pertaining to the death of a pregnant wild elephant, which died after biting a fruit laced with explosives in Kerala, surrendered before the Munsiff Magistrate Court in Mannarkkad of Palakkad district on Saturday. After the surrender, the Kerala Forest Department moved an application in the court to get custody of the accused on Monday. 

According to a report on The New Indian Express, the second accused Riyazudheen surrendered before the Court after one and a half years of the incident while the prime accused and Riyazudheen’s father continues to stay at large. 

The Mannarkad DFO Surjith said that they are expecting the second accused to give details on who planted the bomb, when and how they planted it. 

In May 2020, a 15-year-old pregnant elephant was eating a pineapple laced with firecrackers that blew inside her mouth. The elephant suffered serious injuries to the upper and lower jaw and left the tongue of the jumbo mangled in the impact of the blast. Unable to eat, the elephant was standing in the river in pain.

However, a few days later, the elephant succumbed to the injuries on May 27, 2020. Following this, Forest Department officials conducted an autopsy which revealed that the jumbo was pregnant.

Soon, the issue received a lot of outrage among the public and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan promised to take swift action against the culprits in the case. A case was registered against the accused for possessing explosives and misusing them under Wild Life (Protection) Act. The police initially arrested a culprit but the owner and son of the estate were absconding.