Bengaluru: With national outrage and pressure mounting on the Kerala forest department over the barbaric killing of a pregnant pachyderm, it has now come to light that they have made the first arrest in the case. 

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In a tweet, they said, "major breakthrough! KFG has zeroed on the culprits and recorded the first arrest in the wild elephant death case."

 

Republic TV quoted Palakkad SP as saying "We are also trying to investigate from which place he purchased the explosive material.” 


As the nation lodged a massive outrage over the killing of the innocent creature, Union environment minister Prakash Javdekar said on his Twitter account thus:

"The Environment Ministry has taken a serious note of the death of an elephant in Kerala. Has sought a complete report on the incident. Stern action will be taken against the culprit(s).” 

 

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan too was forced to take action. He had said, “In a tragic incident in Palakkad dist, a pregnant elephant has lost its life. Many of you have reached out to us. We want to assure you that your concerns will not go in vain. Justice will prevail.” 

The preliminary report of the post-mortem of the dead elephant suggests that it died drowning followed by inhalation of water leading to lung failure. "Drowning, followed by inhalation of water leading to lung failure, is the immediate cause of death of the elephant. 

On the wounds it suffered, it said, "The major and incapacitating wounds and injuries in oral cavity caused localised sepsis and have most likely occurred following an explosive blast in the mouth. This has resulted in excruciating pain and distress in the region and prevented the animal from taking food and water for nearly two weeks. Severe debility and weakness, in turn, resulted in the final collapse in water that led to drowning,"