Baripada: A day after the Orissa High Court came down on the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) over elephant poaching in Similipal, the forest department on Wednesday arrested three of its staff for allegedly trying to conceal the poaching case by burning the carcass of the giant animal in the forest.
The arrested forest staffs are Jenabil ranger Sankar Samal, forester Chandrabhanu Behera and forest guard Binod Das.
The forest department had earlier suspended the trio, who had allegedly burnt an elephant carcass in the forest and thrown the skeletal remains in a river in a bid to suppress the case.
During a probe, the trio had admitted to their guilt.
The High Court had recently reprimanded the top forest officer asking that Why FIR has not been registered against the forest staff involved in the concealment of the case?
Notably, an elephant was shot dead by poachers in Similipal national park some days ago. The forest staff had tried to conceal the matter by burning the carcass in the forest and throwing remnant into a river.
