Country-made bomb placed for wild boar kills dog; man held

The police have arrested a 51-year-old man from Perur after a country-made bomb that he placed on a deserted land to hunt wild boar killed a dog.

S. Selvaraj, a resident of MR Garden at Arumuga Goundanur near Perur, was arrested based on a complaint lodged by Pradeep Prabhakaran, an animal welfare activist.

Mr. Prabhakaran said a person from the locality alerted him on Wednesday about a dog that was found dead with its head blown off, after biting into an explosive substance, on a deserted plot of land.

He lodged a complaint at the Perur police station where a case was registered under Sections 325 (mischief by killing or maiming animal) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 3 (punishment for causing explosion likely to endanger life or property) and 4 (b) of the Explosive Substances Act.

Subsequent investigation by the police found that Selvaraj, a daily wage labourer, had placed the country-made bomb (locally called as avittukai), allegedly to poach wild boar. The police arrested Selvaraj late on Wednesday and he was remanded in judicial custody.

“According to locals, the accused had placed avittukai on the deserted land as wild boars frequent the place at night. The explosive was placed during Deepavali holidays so that the noise of explosion would appear like that of firecrackers,” said Mr. Prabhakaran.