GUWAHATI: Two elephants, which were seized while being taken illegally from Arunachal Pradesh to Odisha via Assam in April, have been sent to Kaziranga National Park and they will be under the supervision of the state's forest and wildlife department. The move was made as per an order of the Gauhati High Court.
The jumbos are Lakhi Prasad and Hari Prasad. An additional sessions judge (number-2, FTC), Tinsukia had given their custody to Chow Sonjit Pomong, the accused in the elephants' illegal transportation case. The Gauhati High Court quashed that order and directed that the pachyderms be sent to Kaziranga National Park and they will remain under the supervision of the Assam forest and wildlife department. Accordingly, the order has been followed.
Pomong, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, told in his statement to Assam forest department that he had got an amount of Rs. 9 lakh for Lakhi Prasad and Rs. 17 lakh for Hari Prasad from a person Barun Kumar Singh, who had reached out to him for the jumbos. Singh, who gave the money in cash to the family of his late brother (Pomong's brother Chow Moloy Pomong) had told him that the elephants will be used for a religious purpose, however, he neither got any documents from any religious place nor Singh could convincingly tell about the religious institution where the elephants were to be sent to, Pomong said in his statement.
As per reports, the jumbos were being sent in a truck from Lathao (Arunachal Pradesh) to Koraput (Odisha). The truck was stopped by the forest department in Tinsukia and the elephants were recovered. The truck driver M. Kumar and Barun Kumar Singh, who were found with the animals, were arrested.
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