ADGP rules out CID probe in elephant tusk theft case

Additional Director General of Police Kamal Pant said on Thursday that a CID probe was not necessary into the case of a pair of elephant tusks going missing from the chamber of the superintendent of police of Shivamogga. But the department had taken the case seriously and a departmental inquiry was in progress, he said.  

Speaking to mediapersons here on Thursday, he said a pair of tusks had been kept as a decorative item in the chamber for the past several years and he had seen it when he served as  superintendent of police in Shivamogga. But now, it had gone missing. A police team headed by Additional Superintendent of Police M Muthuraj is probing the missing case and it will submit a report soon. Shivamogga Superintendent of Police Abhinav Ashok Khare will provide information on the case later.  

He said the Forest department had donated a pair of elephant tusks to the department two decades ago. They had been displayed on the wall behind the seat of the superintendent of police in his chamber. However, the tusks were shifted to other rooms for the renovation of the chamber, whenever a new officer takes charge. The tusks had gone missing from the wall in 2011.  

The police noticed that the pair of tusks had gone missing at a meeting convened to hand over stone sculptures that were used to beautify the SP's office to the museum developed by the Department of Archaeology of the Kuvempu University. Following this, Khare ordered a departmental inquiry.