The dead elephant. File picture

Alipurduar, May 27: The forest department has decided to urge officials of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd to take action against villagers involved in illegal hooking.

The move follows after a section of people in Andaman village, where the body of a pregnant elephant was found on Sunday morning, alleged that the pachyderm was electrocuted. The foresters were told by the villagers that the elephant had died after coming in contact with a live electric wire in a cornfield owned by Santosh Sapkata.

The farmer, who does not have power supply, took the connection from a house, located around 500 meters away, and illuminated the cornfield to save the crop from elephants and other animals.

Sapkata was summoned to Kodal Basti range office and interrogated by the forest staff last night. The farmer admitted that the field had been illuminated to keep a watch on the crops. He was released later.

Ujjwal Ghosh, the DFO of Cooch Behar Forest Division, said keeping live electric wires in fields would be harmful to animals. He said the department was waiting for the post-mortem report to decide on the next course of action. The officer said he would ask the power company to take action against those who diverted electricity.

There are six cells in north Bengal to check the illegal hooking of electricity. The cells comprise the officials of forest department and electricity company, members of forest protection committees and villagers.