Ooty: A tribal youth killed an anti-poaching watcher at Mavanallah jungle hamlet bordering the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) after a row over feeding a physically challenged wild elephant that has been straying around the jungle fringes for a couple of years.
The elephant fondly named, Rivaldo by jungle residents in the Mavanallah area, strayed into the hamlet in an injured state in March 2013. Investigations showed that nearly six inches of its trunk was severed and it was injured around the tip of the back of its trunk. It struggled to pick up twigs and other food. The foresters then treated the elephant and chased it into the jungles.
Subsequently, villagers began to provide it fodder by cutting shrubs, twigs and bushes around. Over time, Rivaldo showed some improvement and learnt to graze with its semi-functional trunk, but still looked to the villagers for food.
Forest department also deployed a few field forest personnel to monitor the elephant. On Sunday, Krishnan (28) a tribal youth, hailing from Mavanallah hamlet was chopping some twigs and shrubs in the forest area, apparently to feed Rivaldo which was standing nearby, when P. Kannan, an anti-poaching watcher warned Krishnan of stringent action if he cut twigs and shrubs to feed the elephant. This is said to have triggered a quarrel between them.
Police said that at around 8.30 pm on Sunday night when Kannan was walking around Mavanallah, a drunk Krishnan again picked up a quarrel with him and attacked him. When Kannan collapsed and died, Krishnan carried the body and threw it in a nearby pool.
Villagers came to know of this and informed the police who arrested Krishnan on Sunday midnight. Further enquiry is on, police said.
