Kochi: Actor Mohanlal, who is the first accused in a case dating back to 2011 which involved the recovery of four ivory elephant tusks from his house, has approached the Kerala High Court explaining his version. He argued before the High Court that the charge-sheet filed by the Forest Department at the Perumbavoor magistrate court in this regard would not stand the scrutiny of the law.
Pointing out that the charge-sheet was filed a long seven years after the case had been registered in December 2011, Mohanlal said that there was a conspiracy behind the development. The celebrity alleged that it was a calculated move to humiliate him. Mohanlal also claimed that he possessed the licence to keep the ivory tusks.
The recent legal process was initiated after a private individual moved the High Court saying that no further action was launched in the matter after registering the case in 2011. Criticizing the delay, the High Court sought an explanation on the matter within three weeks from the Magistrate Court. Soon after, the Forest Department filed a charge-sheet before the Perumbavoor court. According to the charge-sheet, the actor had violated the Wildlife Protection Act by owning the tusks and trading in them.
The four elephant tusks were seized by Income Tax officials from Mohanlal’s house at Thevara in Kochi. An investigation later revealed that the licence holders for keeping the ivory were two other people. But according to the actor, he had purchased the tusks for Rs 65,000 from a man named K Krishnakumar.
