With the death of a pregnant elephant in Kerala sparking a furore across the country, state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took to Twitter on Thursday, 4 June, assuring people that their "concerns will not go in vain" and that "justice will prevail".
"An investigation is underway, focusing on three suspects. The police and forest departments will jointly investigate the incident. The district police chief and the district forest officer visited the site today. We will do everything possible to bring the culprits to justice," the CM wrote.
At the same time, Vijayan also condemned the "use" of this tragedy "to unleash a hate campaign", with some event trying to "import bigotry into the narrative".
Social media has been buzzing with the outpouring of grief and anger, demanding strict action be taken against the offenders
Regarding the incident, Mannarkkad District Forest Officer K Sunil Kumar told The Quint, "The animal had sustained injuries because of explosives in its mouth. This was an act done by some people living in the forest fringes to keep the animals away from his or her cultivated land. But this was not done intentionally to kill a pregnant elephant,” he told The Quint.
He said that the locals could not have fed a fruit stuffed with live firecrackers to a wild elephant inside the forest as that would be very dangerous.
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