Kerala High Court issues temporary stay on 'Operation Arikomban'

KOCHI/IDUKKI: The Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed 'Operation Arikomban' until it hears the plea challenging it. A stay was issued at a special sitting conducted on Thursday evening after considering a petition (WP-C No.10551/23) filed by an animal rights organization.The plea challenging the operation to capture the rogue tusker 'Arikomban' at Idukki will be considered by a division bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Murali Purushothaman on Friday.A special task force from Wayanad was planning to launch the operation to capture the tusker by firing tranquilizer shots, on Sunday.A court directive to use scientific methods to capture the elephant, instead of sedating it with a tranquilizer shot, and release it into the forest has been sought through the plea.The petition said the present plan put forward is to capture the elephant and transport it to the elephant training centre at Kodanad. It is also alleged that the decision to use a tranquilizer has not been notified in the gazette by the state government so as to keep it a secret.Meanwhile, 'Arikomban', which has been giving sleepless nights to the residents in the areas for the past few months, was seen inside the tea estate and dense forests (shola) in the Periyakanal region near Chinnakanal just off Kochi-Dhanushkodi NH on Thursday. The present location where the jumbo is presently trudging is only 2km away from the 301 Colony and Cement Bridge, the locations which have been fixed as the conducive terrain for darting the jumbo.The five-member team of watchers, which has been tracking the movement of the jumbo since Wednesday, said that if it crosses the reservoir of the Anayirangal dam, it will reach the 'dart zone'. "There is a possibility of the jumbo crossing the reservoir and reaching a flat terrain. However, if the elephant drifts towards the Mathikettan Shola region, which has vast water bodies, it will be difficult to carry out the operation," Pandiraj Ragu, a member of the watchers' team tracking 'Arikomban' said.If the jumbo drifts away, the plan is to divert it to the Cement Bridge area by blasting crackers. Two more Kumki elephants -- Kunju and Konni Surendran -- will arrive at the temporary elephant camp in Chinnakanal on Saturday morning.The Wayanad team is set to reach Idukki on Friday. State forest minister A K Saseendran was expected to reach Chinnakanal on Saturday for the final review of the operation.