CM Fadnavis says Vantara ready to join state's petition to get tusker Madhuri back

Mumbai: Chances of the return of female elephant Mahadevi aka Madhuri to Kolhapur from Vantara in Jamnagar in Gujarat appear bright with Chief Minister Devendra Fanavis himself stepping in and meeting a team of Vantara on Wednesday.

Last week, Mahadevi, who was a resident of Swastishree Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswami Sansthan Math, a Jain mutt, at Nandani village in Karvir in Kolhapur was shifted to Vantara’s Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust (RKTEWT) in Jamnagar after the Supreme Court upheld an order of the Bombay High Court to provide relief to Mahadevi who tragically killed the chief priest of the Math in 2017 by repeatedly slamming him against the wall.

The indication of return of Mahadevi, the 36-year-old pachyderm, came from Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday after a team from Vantara met him a day after a delegation of public representatives called on him.

“I had an extensive discussion with the Vantara team in Mumbai. Good news is that they assured me that they are happy to join Maharashtra Government’s petition before the Supreme Court for the smooth passage of the elephant Madhuri back to the mutt,” Fadnavis said.

“Vantara (officials) said that they were acting only on the orders of the Hon Supreme Court and had no intentions to grab the custody of ‘Madhuri’. The team also showed their willingness to build a rehab centre for Madhuri in Kolhapur near Nandani at a place selected by the Forest Department of Government of Maharashtra. They also informed that they give highest respect to the religious sentiments of the community,” the CM posted on X.

Since last week, there have been several protests in Kolhapur and a silent march seeking the return of the elephant.

In fact, people from Kolhapur even ran a social media campaign calling for porting their Jio mobile connections to other service providers.

Vantara is the brainchild of Anant Ambani, son of industrialist Reliance Industries Ltd Chairman Mukesh Ambani, and is supported by Reliance Group companies and Reliance Foundation.