Bhubaneswar, June 3: In a significant development, a forest official has been suspended following the tragic killing of an elephant in the Dhenkanal forest division of Odisha. The Regional Chief Conservator of Forests (RCCF) in Angul has taken action against the forester in Hindol, issuing a suspension due to negligence in duty.
The incident occurred in the Kandrasuni area, where the elephant was reportedly killed and buried inside a farmhouse. The forest department has now entered an active phase of investigation regarding this case. The section forester, Diptranjan Acharya, has been suspended as a result of this incident.
Dr. Sanjay Kumar Swain, the RCCF of Angul, stated that the suspension was due to Acharya’s alleged carelessness in handling the situation. During the suspension period, Acharya has been strictly instructed not to leave the Dhenkanal DFO office without permission.
Additionally, a show-cause notice has been issued to the range officer Trilochan Dehuri in Hindol. Meanwhile, the forest department has presented the farmhouse owner, Pramod Kumar Raj, JCB operator Sudhir Bhutia, and security guard Rajiv Chaudhary from Madhya Pradesh in court, where charges have been filed against them.
All three were arrested following the registration of the case, but they had filed for bail in the Hindol SDJM court. Their bail application was denied, and they have since been remanded to judicial custody.
This incident follows a previous case in May 2025, where an 8 to 10-year-old male elephant died due to electrocution from illegal electric wires near the Talasira village in the Bantala forest range of Angul district.
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