Thrissur: Two mahouts attached to the Punnathur Anakkotta belonging to Guruvayur Devaswom, were suspended for torturing elephants, including a jumbo presented to the temple by the late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
The action against the mahouts was taken pending inquiry after video footage of them torturing two elephants went viral on social media on Thursday morning.
According to sources, the incident took place a month ago at the Thekke Nada Sheeveli ground.
It is clear in the footage that the elephants were continuously beaten with 'Vadikkol' (a stick used to master the elephants). The footage contains three different video grabs. One showed mahout thrashing Krishna, the elephant presented to the temple by the late J Jayalalithaa.
In the second video grab, the mahout is seen beating up an elephant named Kesavankutty and in the third grab, Gajendra a third elephant is seen walking with a limp, possibly due to beating up by the mahouts.
Soon after the video went out to the public, the Devaswom authorities initiated an investigation following which the mahouts of both Krishna and Kesavankutty were suspended. The elephants, too, were given a detailed medical examination following the incident on Thursday.
Dr V K Vijayan, chairman of the Guruvayur Devaswom Board, has directed the deputy administrator in charge of the Anakkotta to submit a detailed report at the earliest.
Meanwhile, after the video was out, the forest department registered two cases against four mahouts of Sarath, Krishnan's mahout and Vasu, Kesavankutty's mahouts Suresh Babu and Mohanan. The Kerala High Court Devaswom Division bench also registered a case suo motu after seeing the visuals.
