Bengaluru: Two held for selling elephant tusk weighing 25.5 kg

The Girinagar police arrested two people attempting to sell an elephant tusk weighing 25.5 kg on Wednesday.

The arrested are 45-year-old Ravi Kumar from Herindyapanahalli village in Kanakapura, and 58-year-old Somashekar, also known as Shivanna, from Kulume Bheemasandra village in Ramanagara district.

Manoj Kumar D S, a sub-inspector with the JP Nagar police, received information about a person attempting to sell the elephant tusk in Banashankari’s Sapthagiri Layout on Wednesday. He promptly informed the Girinagar police, who arrived at the scene and found Ravi carrying a gunny bag with the elephant tusk.

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Acting on the information gathered from Ravi, the police nabbed Somashekar and are making efforts to catch the others involved in the smuggling operation.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) P Krishnakant stated that the arrested duo has been taken into police custody for further investigation. He mentioned that they are professionals and added, "We are checking if there are any previous cases registered against them."

The suspects claimed to have obtained the tusk from a forested area in Kanakapura.

But a senior officer revealed that Ravi confessed to obtaining the tusk from a dead elephant near his village. "We will locate the dead elephant and conduct a post-mortem to determine if it died due to natural causes or was killed by Ravi and his associates," the officer stated.

Somashekar had facilitated the sale of the tusk as a mediator.