Digboi: The investigation into the tusk-harvesting of a domesticated elephant in Assam’s Lakhipather under the Digboi Forest Division has continued. Forest authorities have summoned the owner, Hunjoy Duaniya, and caretaker, Latu Moran, for questioning.
Officials in the Lakhipather Range said they are examining procedural lapses, including the alleged failure to inform the jurisdictional ranger about the elephant’s presence in the forest and delays in reporting the incident.
The Range Officer stated that official intimation reached the division on April 16, while authorised veterinary treatment was provided on Friday, April 17, prompting questions over response time and compliance with forest regulations.
A senior official from the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) told Northeast Now that action has been initiated in connection with the incident and that an investigation is underway based on prima facie findings.
The incident involves a domesticated tusker, Mangal Singh, one of only three in the district. Owned by Margherita-based Hunjoy Duaniya, the elephant had been stationed in the Lakhipather area for grazing over the past two years. However, sources said the animal was kept in the forest without informing the jurisdictional ranger.
According to forest officials, the incident occurred on the night of April 14 in the Dhulijan area under the Lakhipather Forest Range, around 20 kilometres from the range office. The elephant was reportedly tied about 100 metres from a supervisor’s camp.
Miscreants allegedly untied the animal, took it to an isolated part of the forest, and removed both tusks while it was still alive. The tusks were estimated to measure between 18 inches and nearly three feet.
The injured elephant was located the following day, April 15, at around 11 am. The owner arranged treatment with a team of experts from Doomdooma without informing the Range Officer. Forest officials said the matter was formally reported to the division on April 16.
Official treatment was provided on April 17, by which time the elephant had been bleeding since the night of April 14.
A senior official of the Digboi Forest Division said the same elephant had earlier been seen in the Soraipung area while moving towards the Arunachal Pradesh border. It was later driven back into the Lakhipather range after intervention by the then Divisional Forest Officer, IFS officer T.C. Ranjith Ram.
The incident has raised concerns among wildlife activists. Activist Debojit Moran, in a social media post, raised allegations of a possible nexus. He said removing tusks from a live elephant deep inside the forest without anaesthesia would be “virtually impossible” unless carried out by individuals familiar to the animal, such as its mahout or owner.
“Both forest personnel and the elephant’s owner must be held accountable and subjected to a rigorous investigation,” Moran said.
Moran further said the case may not be a straightforward instance of poaching and could involve insider facilitation. He called for an immediate high-level probe, stating that the incident might have been staged to mislead authorities and the public into believing that external smugglers were responsible.
The Lakhipather Forest Range, part of the Upper Dehing Reserve Forest (East), has witnessed similar incidents in recent times. In one case on May 30 last year, a tusker was electrocuted in a tea garden before its tusk was removed for illegal trade.
Following a 19-day operation, forest officials recovered a 1.6-foot-long ivory tusk weighing 1.8 kilograms from an accused’s residence. Despite arrests, repeated incidents suggest the presence of an active poaching network.
The timing of these incidents has also raised questions, as earlier cases were reported after transfers of key officials. The latest incident comes amid recent administrative changes in the division, leading to speculation that such groups may be taking advantage of transition periods.
Investigators believe the incidents follow a pattern in which high-value tuskers are targeted, controlled, their ivory removed, and the perpetrators leave the area quickly, indicating a coordinated network operating in and around forest regions.
Concerns have been raised by locals and conservationists, along with calls for accountability, improved intelligence-based enforcement, and stronger action against organised poaching networks.