Farmer arrested for lion's electrocution in Junagadh.

TNN Aug 8, 2013, 12.49AM IST

AHMEDABAD: Forest department has arrested a farmer after investigation into the incident of a lion's carcass found from a causeway in MotiMonpari village of Junagadh revealed that the wild cat was actually killed by electrocution.
Jaman Dobaria, the farmer, had laid live wires from a near-by transformer using wooden blocks in his groundnut field. Deputy conservator of forest, Gir west, Kasuladev Ramesh said, "These wires are used to keep the wild animals away. The lion came in contact with the live wire and died."
The police are also searching for two other persons who allegedly assisted Dobaria in laying the live wires.

On Tuesday, forest officials had received a call that a lion's carcass was stuck in the pipeline of a causeway. The pipeline was used to flow out excess water. They pulled out the body and found that all the organs and nails were intact.
During investigation, they also found pug marks and strands of lion hair in the nearby field, which led to the suspicion that the lion could have been killed.
A massive search operation was carried out with the help of police state electricity company officials. "This is the time of sowing and to save the fields from animals, many farmers resort to illegal methods of passing electric current to keep the animals away. Sometimes lions also get trapped and electrocuted."
Forensic Science Laboratory team also found a black mark on the lion's skin, which indicated electrocution.
Ramesh said that they also recovered a grid which had live wires and were connected to the nearby transformer.
Officials said that this year because of good rains there has been bumper sowing in the area and hence such incidents are likely to rise. The farmers will resort to such illegal practices to save their crop from neelgai, wild boar and other wild animals. He said that the lion too would fall prey to such live wires.