Guwahati Aug 23: The Gauhati High Court has rejected the bail petition of two senior managers of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) who were arrested by the forest authorities on July 22 in connection with the “mysterious death” and “secret burial” of a female elephant at NRL Township in Upper Assam’s Golaghat district.
The arrested officials are: Ujjal Nayan Handique, chief manager, NRL Township; and Bedanga Kashyap, manager, NRL Township.
They were arrested in connection with Offence Report No G/WL/02 of 2024-25 registered on July 20 under section 51 of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972 read with the Wild Life (Protection) (Assam Amendment) Act, 2009.
A female elephant was found dead inside the butterfly park within NRL Township. It is alleged in the preliminary offence report that the NRL officers came to know about the incident at about 8.20 am on July 18 but the fact was reported to Golaghat DFO at about 5 pm on the same day.
It was found that the elephant got electrocuted from an exposed armoured cable.
A single judge bench of Gauhati High Court comprising Justice Malasri Nandi said: “In view of the above, under the facts and circumstances of the case and considering the gravity of the offence, this court is not inclined to grant bail to the petitioner. However, the state forest department is directed to complete the investigation at the earliest.”
“Having heard the learned counsel for both the parties and on perusal of the offence report, the position is that a female elephant was found dead inside the Butterfly Park, NRL Township. Though the accused/ who are officers of the NRL came to know about the death of the elephant inside the township in the morning around 8.30 am but they informed the forest department in the evening time at about 5.30 pm,” the court said in the order.
The court also said the cause shown by the petitioners regarding delay of information due to network connectivity issues cannot be considered to be acceptable one. The NRL has enough staff and there might not be any hindrance to inform the matter to the concerned forest department by sending a messenger also.
“As per the offence report, the arrested accused/petitioners instructed some persons to hide the carcass by digging a pit and putting salt for faster decomposition with the malafide intention to destroy the evidence. The hunting of Asiatic elephant, keeping the carcass of schedule 1 wild animals is an offence punishable under Section 51 of the Act,” the court also said.
The court further said the post-mortem report of the elephant is also available in the offence report from which it reveals that the veterinary doctor who examined the carcass of the dead elephant, opined that the animal might have died due to cardiac respiratory failure owing to the possibility of electrocution. The report further shows a column observation of the surroundings, which reflects a switchboard of the loop of electric wires, exposed and broken.
“Thus, the scheme of the Act, in my opinion, appears to confer jurisdiction on the Director of Wildlife Preservation, Wildlife Warden or a police officer not below the rank of sub-inspector, to enter or search and/or arrest and detain any individual suspected of having committed an offence under the Act,” the court added.
