Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Violent elephant keeps police on their toes

Staff Reporter

Arms recovered from house of elephant owner at Manikanteswaram

Thiruvananthapuram: The city police spent more than four hours escorting a captive elephant to the house of its owner after the animal behaved violently towards its mahout at Kaimanam on Tuesday evening.

The police who later searched the house of the elephant owner at Manikanteswaram, near Vattiyoorkavu, recovered handcuffs, short-handled axe, a knuckle-duster, a dagger, and the scabbard of a sword. The police suspect the businessman to have strong links with criminal elements in the city.

The police said the elephant owner figured as accused in a case relating to the theft of an elephant registered in Peroorkada police station limits in 2004. The "stolen" elephant was later found dead in a forest near Vithura. The Forest Department had also investigated the businessman in connection with the incident.

Around 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday evening, the city police received an intimation that a tusker, Ananda Padmanabhan, had thrown its mahout off its back and was moving at a fast pace towards Peroorkada. The police were also intimated that a fellow tusker, Mahadevan, was tailing Ananda Padmanabhan.

The police who reached Kaimanam found the two mahouts in charge of Ananda Padmanabhan to be in a drunken condition. Assistant Commissioner, Cantonment, E. Sherifudeen said the mahouts refused to take responsibility for the elephant. "They told me that they had nothing to do with the elephant," Mr. Sherifudeen said. The police managed to convince the second mahout to walk beside the elephant. Four police vehicles tailed the two elephants as they trundled towards the house of their owner at Manikentaswaram in Cantonment police sub-division. The policemen regulated traffic on the route and asked motorists to switch of their headlights to ensure that the troubled elephant was not irritated further.

The two tuskers tailed by a convoy of police vehicles was a sight for residents in the quiet neighbourhood of Peroorkada. Many ran indoors after the policemen warned that one of the elephants was in an irritated mood and potentially dangerous.

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