A 13-year-old boy from Assam was electrocuted from an illegal trap set for wild boars at Pookkoottumpadam near Nilambur on Wednesday. The police on Thursday arrested a man who had taken the land on lease for farming.
Rahmatullah, 13, son of Muthalib Ali from Assam, was found dead near an electric fence in a farmland managed by Unnikrishnan Arayil. The police said the boy was suspected to have come in contact with the illegal power line while playing in the morning.
The police arrested Mr. Unnikrishnan and slapped murder charges on him.
Over a dozen human beings have fallen prey to illegal power traps set by farmers in the past few months in the State. Although the police, the Forest, and the Kerala State Electricity Board have stepped up vigil against such death traps using electricity from domestic lines, farmers are found to be increasingly resorting to this illegal and dangerous practice.
Farmers are increasingly killing wild boars and other small wild animals with such power traps especially since the government permitted controlled culling of wild boars with the help of empanelled shooters in May 2022.
Most cases of human and elephant deaths by such illegal electric traps were reported from Palakkad district. While two policemen lost their lives on accidentally touching such a trap at Muttikkulangara near Palakkad in May 2022, two youngsters were electrocuted last month at Karingarapully near Palakkad.
