ALAPPUZHA: The forest department has registered an FIR against the administrators of Moodayil Sreekrishna Swamy temple devaswom, Haripad, for illegally shifting the temple elephant to Thiruvananthapuram last year.
The elephant, Moodayil Harikrishnan, 18, was allegedly sold to Viswas V. Nair of Venjaramood, Thiruvananthapuram, violating the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Kerala Captive Elephants (Management and Maintenance) Rules, 2012.
The case was registered a few days after the assistant conservator of forests (ACF), Alappuzha, Sumi Joseph, seized the jumbo from the custody of Viswas.
The FIR, registered against dewaswom president Jayaraj, secretary Krishnapillai, treasurer Mohanan Nair and Viswas V. Nair, has been submitted to the Judicial First class Magistrate's Court.
Sumi Joseph told DC that the case was registered against the temple administration committee as instructed by the chief wildlife warden based on a probe report filed by the additional principal chief conservator of forests who heads the biodiversity cell. The elephant is currently in the elephant rehabilitation centre, Kottoor. A detailed investigation was underway, the ACF said.
The row erupted in September last between the devaswom and a group of devotees after the elephant was transported on the sly to Venjaramood.
The forest department acted after the devotees secured a High Court order directing the chief wildlife warden to investigate the matter in January this year.
Harikrishanan was bought by the temple devaswom from Kottayam after raising Rs 26 lakh from the public in December 2007. The price of the elephant was Rs 22 lakh and the rest was deposited in the bank in the name of animal for its care and protection.
D. Narendra Karnaver, former president of the devaswom and the petitioner, says the elephant lost its tusk in 2012 when it was used for moving hardwood at a sawmill near Haripad. Following this, the temple administration said that Harikrishan was suffering from degradation of tusk and that it had become a liability. On September 23, 2017, the main mahout of Harikrishnan, Ramachandran Nair, took it to Venjaramood on the pretext of taking it to his home.
During the temple festival last year, the devaswom authorities had rented an elephant instead of using Harikrishnan. "So we suspected that it had been sold to Viswas V. Nair through a clandestine deal. We want to bring back the elephant at the earliest," he says.
