Coimbatore CBI court convicts four in two elephant electrocution cases

The Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Coimbatore convicted four individuals in two cases of wild elephant electrocutions in Erode and Coimbatore districts. Chief Judicial Magistrate K. Sivakumar handed down the sentences based on a direction from the Madras High Court. In the first case, Mathappa (38) and his father Kalayya (78) were sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for electrocuting a male wild elephant in Thalavadi in Jeerahalli forest range in Erode district in 2020.

They had cultivated crops and illegally connected an iron cable fence to a low tension powerline, causing the death of a 10-year-old tusker on December 19, 2020. The court fined them ₹25,000 each. In the second case, Aruchamy (64) and his wife Thilagavathy (64) from Thennamanallur near Thondamuthur in Coimbatore district received a five-year prison term for the electrocution of a male elephant within the Boluvampatti forest range in 2021.

They cultivated crops on a little over seven acres and also illegally connected their electricity for a farm fence, leading to the death of a 25-year-old tusker on January 5, 2021. The court fined them another ₹25,000 each. The judge emphasized that the convicts' personal selfishness led to the death of an innocent elephant, and warned that farming in forest areas should not lead to such unlawful acts. Public Prosecutor V. Surendra Mohan represented the CBI in both cases.