TIRUPUR: A forest guard has been arrested along with two others on charges of attempting to sell a pair of elephant tusks in the Amaravathi forest range of the Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR).The arrested men have been identified as A Mariappan, 49, a forest guard attached to the Kuzhipatti beat in the Amaravathi forest range; Kannimuthu, 52, a labourer; and R Vijayakumar, 29, who runs a fish stall. While Mariappan and Kannimuthu reside in the tribal settlement of Parai outside the reserve, Vijayakumar is a resident of Amaravathi Nagar near Udumalpet in Tirupur district.Forest officials seized two elephant tusks measuring 56.5 cm (with a girth of 17 cm) and 61 cm (with a girth of 15 cm) during a search at Vijayakumar’s residence in the early hours of Wednesday.According to the forest department, Amaravathi range forest officer Senthilmurugan received a photograph of two tusks on WhatsApp from an unknown number on Sept 7. Tracing the mobile number, officials zeroed in on a local resident named Sakthi, who revealed that the picture was forwarded to him by one Surya from the Parai settlement behind the Sainik School at Amaravathi Nagar.Upon questioning, Surya told the forest department officials that Mariappan had asked him to photograph the tusks and send them to his phone, presumably to find prospective buyers. When officials confronted Mariappan on Tuesday evening, he initially gave evasive replies before confessing to retrieving the tusks from the forest area.Officials said Mariappan handed the tusks to Kannimuthu last week, who then concealed it at Vijayakumar’s residence. A team raided Vijayakumar’s premises at 2am on Wednesday, recovering the tusks and arresting all three suspects.Further inquiries are under way to ascertain whether an elephant was poached or if the tusks were removed from a carcass.
