How a transnational elephant poaching mafia was brought to book in Kerala – Part 1

It all began with the June 29, 2015, issue of Malayala Manorama, which ran a front-page lead story on how twenty wild elephants were killed by marauding poachers in the lawless terrains of Kerala’s jungles.

That was the culmination of a valiant investigative effort by Jayan Menon, the then Thiruvananthapuram chief reporter who is now the Kozhikode bureau chief of Manorama, which took him to places as far as Nepal, Kolkata and Delhi to gather evidence on a dreaded mafia trading elephant tusks that feasted on wild elephants.

As man-animal conflict is being widely reported from Wayanad in Kerala, a web series on OTT platform Amazon Prime, ‘Poacher’, attempts to reveal the dark truths behind the biggest elephant hunt unleashed by poachers in Kerala’s forest ranges, and a gritty effort by an honest forest official to bring the culprits to book with the help of a scribe.  Jayan Menon narrates the big story behind nailing the global network of poachers who unleashed a reign of terror in their pursuit of riches in Kerala's forest ranges.

After Manorama broke the story on large-scale hunting of elephants for tusks, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) report was ordered. What exactly happened in the forests? How was the poaching mafia put behind bars and how was the unholy nexus between Forest Department officials and the poachers exposed?
This is that real story that exposed a mafia that ran berserk, killing tuskers,  and their accomplices in the forest department who moved heaven and earth in an abortive bid to do a coverup job by implicating the whistleblower.

A dispute which opened the trail
If an honest forest official committed to the cause of wildlife conservation takes up a brave stance against poaching, no matter what his rank is, even the culprits with transnational links and the backing of a global mafia network of poachers can be nailed. That is the gist of this story, which narrates how the dreaded poachers of Idamalayar were nailed.

N Sivakumar, forester of Perumbavoor Flying Squad, offered leads on the rampant poaching during a trip to Athirampally. He informed that he had just begun a secret probe and was awaiting details to confirm the leads. We track the leads for days. After two weeks, a dejected Sivakumar reached Thiruvananthapuram. He was worked up with the way three of his higher officials snubbed his efforts which enabled him to present solid evidence on the rampant poaching.

Sivakumar got the information about poaching from Kalarikudi Kunjumon, who travelled with the poachers during their illicit forays deep into the jungles in search of elephant tusks. A verbal dispute between Kunjumon and the chief of the poachers, Aikaramattam Vasu opened the lid on the ghastly poaching forays in the forest ranges.

When the Flying Squad went in search of Kunjumon, he was actually in the custody of the Forest Department at Malappuram Forest rest station. The flying squad officials were not informed that Kunjumon was in custody, but his son gave them the information that he was with the squad. So the squad, which included Sivakumar, recorded the statement of Kunjumon as a top secret. It was with this record that Sivakumar reached Thiruvananthapuram. Sivakumar was miffed that even though this recording which had vital information on poaching was passed on to three senior officials, they did not take it seriously. 

Sivakumar was scared when he went to pass on the information to Jayan Menon. He was sure that he would face a suspension if the news broke. He had only one-and-a-half years of service left before retirement. But his wife gave him the confidence to go ahead as it wasn’t proper to sit idle after realising that poachers and their benefactors were indulging in gross violations in the forest ranges. Shivakumar handed over the vital statement of Kunjumon. In the following days, they collected documents that shed light on the case registered against Kunjumon by complicit officials.

Kunjumon, who had admitted he had shot and killed an elephant cub while returning from a ‘poaching expedition’ showed the carcass of the elephant to forest officials, who registered a case, but did not follow it up with a detailed probe. Kunjumon himself had admitted that they had hunted down 12 wild elephants. But these submissions fell on deaf ears as complicit forest department officials looked elsewhere. It was only after the Malayala Manorama broke the story that the higher-ups in the forest department scrambled to take action.

But initially, the Forest officials tried to pin the blame on Sivakumar for bringing disrepute to the department and plotted to suspend him on that pretext. However, after a series of stories appeared in Manorama, the authorities felt the heat. Forest Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan ordered a probe, the poachers were apprehended and the carcasses of the elephants killed by the dreaded poachers were found.

Kunjumon’s testimony
“In the past ten months, more than twenty elephants were hunted and killed. Vasu, Eldos, Andikkunju, Jojo, Regi, and Georgekutty went hunting initially. I came to know that Andikunju was already an accused in a hunting case. He gave me Rs 57,000 in four instalments. In the first instalment, I got Rs 30,000. Subsequently, I got Rs 13,000, Rs 9,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively. I started accompanying the poachers from September. I have been to the forest five times,” Kunjumon said in his testimony. Kunjumon confessed the last time he went to the forest was to a place called Idikkudunga.  The poachers bring rice and all supplies when they go for hunting. They stayed at a tent in Vilangappara and went hunting in different places the next day, while Kunjumon stayed in the tent. He was told he just needed to cook and need not go with them. The group returned with tusks. In ten days they had brought six tusks. They took turns carrying the tusks when they returned after poaching.

Vasu had a hand-made gun which they filled with gunpowder and inserted a small iron rod to fire at the elephants. The tusks they got after poaching were sold in Thiruvananthapuram. They went hunting after about twenty days again. Another person named Shiju was also with them at that time. He was a relative of Vasu. They camped again at Vilangappara. They brought four tusks then. The forest range officer was shown the place where they shot the elephants in the Karimbali region. They even found the remains of the elephants shot there.

The third time also they stayed in Vilangappara but they did not get any tusks then. The fourth time they camped in Vilangappara, and went hunting. While returning they spotted an elephant cub near Vathakkara and shot it. But they returned only a month later to procure its tusk. Kunjumon said he confessed because he was sure he would be caught. He said the same group of poachers had gone hunting in many regions including the forest ranges in Munnar, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They also got tusks from these places.

Looking elsewhere
Kunjumon first submitted his testimony at Karimbali Forest station. Officials there tried to scuttle the case by foisting false information that Kunjumon was mentally disturbed. After that, he went to Idamalayar Forest Station and repeated his testimony. After an initial inquiry, officials found the remains of elephants from the spot Kunjumon identified. But officials foisted a case against Kunjumon himself in this incident and he was remanded for 18 days. Though Kunjumon had given the mobile phone numbers of all eight accused, nothing much happened.

After large-scale poaching reported in the 1990s in  Vazhachal and Parambikulam by the notorious Madhura Jhonny, in which nearly 50 elephants were killed, a poaching of this magnitude was taking place for the first time 
If Kunjumon himself had not admitted to his involvement in the incident and Sivakumar and this reporter had not relentlessly pursued the case, this case would have been closed without further probe.

That is because the top echelons of the Forest Department then had vested interests to bury this case. But those who feigned ignorance had to wake up when media reports started pouring in. Forest Department had to initiate a probe into the poaching of nearly twenty elephants at Vazhachal and Athirapally. Forest officials formed three teams to scour the region for the probe, headed by Forest Vigilance Additonal Conservator Surendrakumar, who sought a serious probe in the case.

Reji, who was involved in the case as per Kunjumon’s testimony, was taken into custody and was made to accompany the probe team. The team led by Vigilance Principal Chief Conservator of Forests dug out the remains of five elephants. They got only the skeletons and remains of teeth.

Thwarting the probe
It became clear later that officials colluded to derail the probe. The team which went to the forests with Kunjomon reported that the tent in which they stayed as per his testimony was a shed where tribespeople stayed. They did not make any effort to trace the call records of all seven accused in the poaching despite being in possession of their mobile numbers. Forest officials just closed the case citing that the state police was not cooperating with the probe.  

Kunjumon’s written testimony at Karimbali forest range duty range officer was on May 21, 2015. It included details about seven elephants which were killed and those involved in it. The probe team, however, concluded that there was no evidence that poachers stayed in the place.

The next day Kunjumon himself identified the shed where they stayed. But the team said it could have been the shed of tribespeople or HLL officials who go to the forest to collect reeds. By hinting that the person who gave the testimony was mentally disturbed, complicit officials were trying to get some more time for the real culprits to escape.

Officials nailed
After the probe by Surednrakumar, forest minister Thiruvanchoor suspended three officials. They are: Thundathil range officer P K Rajesh, Karimbali duty range officer K P Sunilkumar, and section forest officer C C Pathrose. A report submitted to the Forest Department head cited serious lapses on the part of the investigation teams.

Thiruvanchoor said the next priority was to nab all the poachers. Priston Silva, who bought the tusks from the poachers, surrendered before the officials. After this nine more arrests were made in the case. They were apprehended from sculpture manufacturing units in Balaramapuram, Ambalathara, Chackai and Pettah in Thiruvananthapuram. Questions remained on to whom the tusks were sold. This led the investigators to an international racket involving men and women.
(To be continued)