JORHAT: A domestic elephant and her eight-month-old calf owned by former MLA Jiten Gogoi were seized by police in Assam’s Golaghat district on Thursday for killing a 14-year-old boy on July 8.
The boy, identified as Bitu Gaud, had tried tried to hug the jumbo calf resulting in the tragedy. Following the death of the child, there was intense pressure on police and forest officials to take action and a case was also filed.
Police said a local court ordered to seize the elephant and hand it over to the forest department. SP (Golaghat) Robin Kumar said, “The elephant and her calf were seized and handed over to Eastern Assam Wildlife Division, Kaziranga.”
Divisional forest officer (Kaziranga) Ramesh Kumar Gogoi said, “We have taken custody of the elephant and the calf. They will be kept at Kaziranga until further orders from the court.”
According to information provided by forest minister Parimal Suklabaidya in the state assembly on Wednesday, 812 people have died due to human-elephant conflict from 2012 to 2021 in Assam.
Repeated efforts to contact Gogoi for comment drew a blank.
