Siliguri, December 18 (PTI): A tea garden official was arrested in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district while a hunt is on for his colleague after an elephant was killed on coming in contact with a live wire allegedly put up by them, officials said on Friday.
Uday Newar, the assistant manager of the tea garden in the Banarhat area, was arrested in a raid by the Gorumara Wildlife Division and police on Thursday, Chief Wildlife Warden VK Yadav said.
The elephant was electrocuted to death on December 4, he said.
A search is on for the manager of the tea garden, he said.
"The electric fencing was totally illegal. The forest department lodged an FIR at Banarhat police station after the carcass of the jumbo was discovered in the plantation area at Huldibari," Yadav said.
Despite repeated summons, the tea garden management did not report to police and the forest department, he said.
"Site inspection suggests electrocution to be the cause of the death due to sagging high-tension electric wires," Yadav had.
Nine elephants have died in north Bengal this year due to electrocution, as per the Forest Department.
