Berhampur: Suspended deputy ranger Binaya Kumar Bisi, booked for the alleged illegal transportation of an elephant carcass after cutting it into pieces, surrendered before the investigating officer on Monday.Bisi, deputy ranger of Belghar range in Kandhamal district’s Baliguda forest division, was on the run all this while. He had already been placed under suspension for allegedly hiding the facts and tampering with evidence in connection with the elephant’s death.
He surrendered after getting an interim order from the state high court not to arrest him for next six weeks and was asked to cooperate with the investigation.“As per the high court order, we can’t arrest him. But his statement will be recorded in presence of the magistrate,” said Manoranjan Bagha, assistant conservator of forests (ACF), Baliguda, who is investigating the case. Bagha said they have already arrested 11 persons, including six poachers who were allegedly involved in killing the elephant by electrocution, and others who assisted the deputy ranger to shift and to bury the elephant’s body parts.Besides Bisi, assistant conservator of forests, Baliguda, Suryakant Behera was put under suspension, while the govt has issued show cause notice to Ghanashyam Mahant, divisional forest officer, Baliguda, for allegedly negligence in probing the elephant’s death.
