The arrest was made following death of an elephant at the Bonai forest range area. However, senior forest officials said that the elephant died due to lightning and not killed as alleged by the joint team.

On September 29, the police arrested three persons for their alleged involvement in elephant poaching. The police found one kilogram of ivory from one of the arrested persons, and seized two country made rifles from them. However, forest officials said that it was not a case of poaching.

Reacting to a question, DFO Sudhansu S Khora said, ?That was not a case of poaching, the elephant died due to lighting. The post-mortem report with us suggests that the elephant died when it was struck by lightning.?

Forest officials said that one of the accused had been to the forest with his goats when he found the elephant dead. ?The accused, however, did not inform anyone and uprooted ivory from the jumbos body," said Khora.

The ivory was weighing around one kilogram and was 7-9 inches in length.

On the night of September 29, a team of police and forest officials raided the house of the accused.