A male elephant got electrocuted in Pudhukkadu village near Sirumugai forest range in Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.
Upon receiving information from villagers, the forest ranger and his staff rushed to the spot, inspected the area and found that the elephant got electrocuted while entering a farm in the village. The carcass of the elephant has been sent for post-mortem.
The forest officials found that the owner of the farm had used electric fencing to keep wild mals at bay. During an inspection of the area, it was revealed that the farm owner, Murugesan, was stealing power from a government motor room, said the ranger.
Following this, the forest department summoned the farm owner who initially refused to oblige, but after police intervention, he accepted his crime.
"Murugesan admitted to stealing power and electric wires, which he used for fencing his farm to keep mals like wild boars at bay," said the ranger.
FIRs have been lodged against him in both the cases of power theft and the death of the elephant at the local police station.
( With inputs from ANI )
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