One person has been arrested in connection with the killing of a pregnant elephant in Palakkad district in Kerala, state forest minister K Raju said on Friday.

The minister said that one man named Wilson, who carries out farming in areas around Ambalappara, was arrested for his alleged role in the incident. Efforts are underway to nab the remaining persons.

Last month, the wild elephant had suffered a painful death as a result of consuming a fruit laced with explosives. However, officials believe that it could have been a snare laid to kill wild boars and pigs and must have been consumed by the jumbo instead. Cases of such snares laid by villagers are common across forest areas in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and have even been known to kill wild elephants.

In a statement, Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said the “Environment Ministry has taken a serious note of the death of the elephant and has sought complete report on the incident. “Stern action will be taken against the culprit(s),” he said.

More than 250 personnel from the state’s forest department are searching through private estates on the forest fringes in Palakkad and Malappuram districts, in order to get some clues on the death of the pregnant elephant. The forest department’s combing team comprises personnel from Silent Valley, Mannarkad, Palakkad and Nilambur divisions under whose jurisdictions forests in the two districts mostly fall, sources said.

The team is mainly looking for presence of snares kept by locals for wild animals, and for likely suspects in the case. They are assisted by a team of police under Palakkad Superintendent of Police. There has been no breakthrough yet, and sources said the forest department has decided to extend the combing operation across the state.

A separate team of the state Crime Branch are proceeding with a simultaneous probe into use of explosives which had lad to the animal’s death.

More than 250 personnel from the state’s forest department are searching through private estates on the forest fringes in Palakkad and Malappuram districts, in order to get some clues on the death of the pregnant elephant.
The injury was already a few days old when we saw the elephant for the first time. So we have not been able to pin-point the place where the injury was sustained. That’s the limitation we are facing,” K K Sunil Kumar, divisional forest officer, Mannarkkad, had earlier said.

Shashi Kumar, a deputy range officer with the division, said such incidents of explosive traps for pigs and boars used to be reported with regular frequency in the olden days. “But since we began filing cases, such incidents have dropped. In our division, hardly any such incidents are reported,” he said.