Mohanlal declares possession of six more elephant tusks

Actor Mohanlal, who is facing trial for illegally possessing four elephant tusks, is also holding another six tusks, taking his total ivory collection to 10 tusks and 13 ivory idols, it has been revealed.

The information on the hitherto unknown ivory possession of the actor surfaced when he made the declaration to the Divisional Forest Officer, Malayattoor, under a scheme announced by the Kerala Forest department.

The actor has kept the newly revealed six elephant tusks, which according to him, were obtained as “ancestral/hereditary succession,” at his residence in Thevara, Kochi. The Hindu had earlier reported that the actor had submitted an application to declare the possession of two pairs of tusks and 13 ivory idols.

Idols weigh 45.76 kg

The idols together weigh a total of 45.76 kg and include a 7.86-kg idol of Tirupati Balaji, a Sree Rama idol (7.26 kg), Dasavatharam (3.97 kg) and a Krishna idol (3.55 kg). The dimensions of the six tusks have also been included in the declaration form.

Mr. Mohanlal has claimed in his application for a declaration that he had received two pairs of elephant tusks as “gifts/compliments” and the 13 idols as “ancestral/hereditary succession.” He has also attached a note along with the declaration from one ‘A.J. Mathew of his office,’ which claimed that he inherited three pairs of elephant tusks of sizes 152 cm, 122 cm, and 114 cm from his maternal grandmother Gowrikutty Amma.

It was during a 2011 Income Tax department raid at his residences that the illegal possession of the wildlife trophy surfaced. Later, a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, consisting of Justices A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar and Jobin Sebastian, had cancelled the ownership certificates issued to the tusks and idols.

Punishment

The Forest department, which has prepared an inventory of the wildlife articles, will conduct DNA tests to ascertain whether the declared wildlife articles belonged to elephants. The illegal possession of a wildlife trophy is an offence under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and those convicted for any offence related to animals included in Schedule One of the Act can get a jail term of up to seven years and a minimum fine of ₹10,000.

The Forest department, which had booked a wildlife crime case against the actor for possessing the two pairs of tusks, had not considered the illegal possession of the idols for initiating legal action him.

Earlier, the first Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government had unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw the prosecution proceedings against the actor by describing the proceedings as a waste of judicial time. However, the move was turned down by the trial court and the High Court. The further proceedings in the cases are pending before the courts.