BANGALORE: Even after the death of forest brigand Veerappan, a few members of his erstwhile gang are still operating in the M.M. Hills and surrounding jungles in Kollegal taluk of Chamarajnagar district.

In the last one month, at least three male elephants had been shot dead in the Ponnachi Reserve Forest area in M.M. Hills.

Alarmed by the death of the elephants, the staff of CID Forest Cell and Forest Department camped in M.M. Hills for over a fortnight and arrested seven persons belonging to two gangs on charges of killing the elephants. The police have seized from them a pair of tusks and a muzzleloader.

Inspector-General of Police (Forest Cell) K.S.N. Chikkerur told The Hindu here on Tuesday that one of the arrested, Kencha (45), was a member of the Veerappan gang. The mobile squad of the CID Forest Cell arrested Kencha at his house at Bidarahalli on Sunday and seized a pair of tusks, measuring 12.5 and 16 inches.

Kencha had not only poached several elephants but had taken part in crimes committed by the brigand. He was reportedly a member of the gang that had attacked a police party in the 1990s.

Another gang led by Bellulli Madaiah had been poaching elephants in Astur area in the Cauvery valley on the Tamil Nadu border. Madaiah and his accomplices Suntri Madappa (45) and Karana alias Anthony Swamy (45), residents of Ramegowdanahalli near Ponnachi, and Mahadeva alias Sunder Raj of Biligundlu, Tamil Nadu, were arrested recently.

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