Man convicted for electrocuting wild elephant near Sathyamangalam

The Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Coimbatore, which is the Special Court for CBI cases, on Thursday sentenced a man from Erode district to five years’ imprisonment for electrocuting a wild elephant in 2018. Judge K. Sivakumar awarded the punishment to Rangaraj Madha Nayakar of Sujilkarai village in Sathyamangalam taluk in Erode district.

As per the CBI findings, a male wild elephant died of electrocution after getting into contact with an illegal electric fencing erected around the farm of Nayakar on the intervening night of November 22 and 23, 2018. He had linked the fence to a low tension power line, an illegal practice. The area falls within the jurisdiction of Germalam forest range of Hasanur Forest Division of the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve.