The committee was asked to submit its report within 10 days. (File)

Bhopal:

Evidence collected in connection with the death of 10 elephants over three days this week in Madhya Pradesh’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve is being sent to the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Uttar Pradesh and the forensic laboratory in Sagar, an official said on Friday.

On Tuesday, four wild elephants were found dead in Sankhani and Bakeli under the reserve’s Khitoli range, while four died on Wednesday and two on Thursday.

“We are sending all the samples we collected from the field, as well as the organic ones, such as viscera, liver, kidney, etc. at IVRI at Izatnagar in UP’s Bareli as well as MP forensics lab at Sagar,” added the senior principal conservator of forest. (Wildlife) L Krishnamoorthy told PTI from BTR over phone.

He heads the five-member committee appointed by the Mohan Yadav government to probe the deaths of Tukers in Bandhavgarh, which is spread across Umaria and Katni districts in eastern Madhya Pradesh.

Mr. Krishnamoorthy said earlier that samples (viscera) of the elephants have been sent to the School of Forensic Medicine and Wildlife Health (SWFH) in Jabalpur to find out toxins, if any, and the cause of death.

He was responding to a question about whether the elephants had consumed poisonous pesticides sprayed on the fields.

“Only after the reports come in can we come to a conclusion on the cause of death. Post mortem reports suspect that it could be due to Kodo millet,” Madhya Pradesh Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF-Wildlife) VKN Ambade told PTI.

A senior veterinarian connected to the probe quoted staff at the reserve and said the elephants fell to the ground and shook before dying.

A ground duty officer said the forest department has identified six farmers from whose field jumbos ate kodo millet, adding that the reports would clarify whether any pesticide was mixed or sprayed on the crop.

Meanwhile, a five-member team of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in Delhi continued its investigation into the deaths on the second day on Friday.

Officials said the National Tiger Conservation Authority Nagpur Regional Officer, Deputy Inspector General of Forests Nandkishore Kale, continued his investigations at the BTR.

“The state tiger strike force also visited nearby agricultural land, paddy fields, water bodies etc. about kodo millet. All the dead elephants were part of a herd of 13. One of the dead elephants was a male. The other three of the herds are healthy, they are being monitored,” another official said.

Krishnamoorthy said earlier that veterinarians had suggested the chances (of presence) of mycotoxins associated with kodo millet.

Mycotoxins generate cyclopiazonic acid that causes poisoning in Kodo millet, he said.

Wildlife veterinarians of the forest department consult experts from Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) Bareilly, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) Dehradun, State Forensic Science Laboratory, Sagar and Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB). Hyderabad to get details on mycotoxins, he said.

The SIT and the task force are probing the case from all angles, the official added.

The group headed by Krishnamoorthy has been asked to submit its report within 10 days.

Some wildlife experts said it could be the first case in the country where 10 elephants died in three days.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)