Overview
- Poojappura police registered an FIR under BNS sections 331(4) and 305 after two tusks were found missing from the Officers’ Mess between February 11 and 12, following a DJ party on the premises.
- Investigators are reviewing CCTV footage and guest lists and have detained several persons for questioning, with no arrests announced, as the Army conducts an internal inquiry.
- The complaint by Subedar Vinod G. S. alleges trespass and theft by unidentified persons, with the missing ivory estimated to be worth about ₹2 crore.
- The tusks were part of artefacts given to the Army in 1929, while the Kerala Forest Department says it was unaware the camp held ivory and is awaiting formal police communication.
- The Union Environment Ministry has previously told Kerala that state-owned wildlife trophies cannot be handed to third parties and must be disposed of under 2023 rules, a backdrop now informing custody questions and checks for possible smuggling links.