Sleuths in dark about Mysore zoo deaths

Surojit Mahalanobis / TNN / Jul 7, 2005, 20:16 IST

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NEW DELHI: Mysore zoo deaths continue to be a riddle for Bangalore-based Corps of Detectives (CoD).

NEW DELHI: Mysore zoo deaths continue to be a riddle for Bangalore-based Corps of Detectives (CoD). Three elephants and one endangered lion-tail maquaque at Mysore Zoological Garden between August to September last year have sent jitters down the spine of the Central Zoo Authority which swung into action to find out the culprits. But even after best efforts for over eight months by the zoo authority officials, no headway to the mystery has been made.
The CoD grilled almost all zoo employees and suspects, who are connected to the zoo from outside, but are still in the dark about who did the killings and why? It still believes the killings were insiders' jobs.
Asked over phone of the probe status, CoD inspector general of police MR Pujar said, "We have grilled every zoo official there, checked antecedents of those who went there from outside. Though we could not yet break through the case, we will do it soon indeed. We still believe, it was an insider job."
Inquired of the steps the CoD has already taken to identify and arrest the culprits, Pujar said, "We applied two tests to detect lies, one Polygraph Test and other one is Brain Mapping Test. Let's see. We may be required to try a third but very special test called Psychometric Test. For trying this we may have to ask for the court's permission."

The zoo shot up to news with mysterious death of an elephant found dead in its enclosure in last August. On post-mortem, zinc phosphate was found in its stomach, which meant the animals were killed by food poisoning. Elephant being a protected endangered animal for India, the zoo was immediately under scanners from all over.
A lion-tail maquaque was found dead in the same zoo in its enclosure soon after a few days. This time also the killer was the same chemical, seemed to have administered into it through diet.

In end of September last year, two calf-elephants also were found dead in their enclosure and again the culprit was the same salt, zinc phosphate. It was believed the salt was administered into the animals through their fodder.
Central Zoo Authority member-secretary, BR Sharma, who had gone to inquire into the mysterious deaths, said at an exclusive to TNN, "It's not clear why these killings? These calves are not even commercially important. They don't have tusks?"
Both elephants and lion-tail maquaques are schedule-I animals in the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 of the country. These are also red-listed animals by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Flora and Fauna, which makes their protection mandatory for a signatory member country. India being a signatory nation to the IUCN, the deaths in the Mysore zoo came under international scanner almost immediately.
Following the deaths, the Karnataka-based CZA member-secretary Suresh had sacked three zoo keepers and suspended four, who had been handling these animals. A separate CZA inquiry team was formed to investigate the deaths alongside an independent probe by the CoD. To date there hasn't been any headway to the mystery.
Ironically, the Mysore zoo is also known for surprises. In the CZA fold, it is one of the best maintained zoos, has booked maximum profits in tickets sale and a pioneer in critical conservation programmes.
The deaths of its inmates has tarnished its image said, Suresh.

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