Hyderabad animal lover announces Rs 2 lakh reward for information on Kerala elephant killers

While the nation, outraged by the killing of a pregnant elephant in Kerala, is demanding harshest punishment for the perpetrators, a Hyderabad man went a step ahead and announced Rs two lakh reward for those who can help the authorities catch the culprits.

B T Srinivasan, an entrepreneur, and a farmer, said that he is enraged by the inhumane act, especially, seeing the photos of the female elephant’s autopsy showing the foetus.

“It is absolutely unacceptable. The offenders should be punished at any cost. Normally, the police announce a reward for information to solve some big cases involving murder, robbery. So, I thought such reward could make someone come forward with information towards solving the case and punishing the offenders,” Srinivasan told DH.

The Humane Society International (India), an animal welfare group, has announced Rs 50,000 reward for such information.

Also read: Elephant killing using explosives not new to Kerala; prominent persons condemn

The wandering elephant from the Silent Valley forest was reportedly fed a firecracker-laced-pineapple, causing her eventual death in a water body in Palakkad district on May 27. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that a high-level probe is on and that stringent action would be taken against the culprits.

Srinivasan has also tweeted his offer, tagging the Kerala CM - “I want to offer a reward of Rs 2 lakh from my personal savings to the person who gives information about the miscreants who made a pregnant elephant eat a pineapple stuffed with crackers. The elephant, which died in Kerala’s Malappuram.”

Srinivasan, who is also General Secretary, United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations, Greater Hyderabad, says he would transfer the amount to the Kerala government bank account once someone comes forward with a genuine lead.

“I’ll leave it to the Kerala state officials to hand it over to the deserving person. But the reward should be given only after the elephant killers are put behind the bars,” Srinivas insists.

Several prominent persons from the two Telugu states have expressed their anguish over the pachyderms’ tragic death. “Heartbreaking. We, Humans, have failed you!” TDP chief and former Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu had tweeted.