Elephant Ownership Dispute Across Three Indian States: The Curious Case of Jayamati

A man from Uttar Pradesh recently filed a police complaint claiming his elephant, Jayamati, had been stolen.

Ranchi:

The remarkable story of Jayamati, a female elephant, spans across three Indian states - Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Bihar. What began as a simple theft investigation has evolved into an intricate tale with unexpected twists.

Approximately two weeks ago, Narendra Kumar Shukla from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, approached police in Jharkhand's Palamu district with an unusual complaint. He alleged that his elephant, Jayamati, had been stolen while being transported from Ranchi to Jaunpur. Shukla specifically accused the mahout of orchestrating the theft.

According to Shukla, he had purchased the elephant to uphold a family tradition of elephant ownership. He reported that both the elephant and its mahout disappeared from Palamu's Jorkat in mid-August. Authorities eventually located Jayamati in Chhapra, Bihar, in the possession of an individual named Gorakh Singh, who claimed to have purchased the elephant for Rs 27 lakh. Initially, police suspected the mahout had schemed to sell the elephant without authorization.

The investigation took a dramatic turn when new information came to light. Reeshma Ramesan, Palamu's police chief, revealed that their inquiry uncovered that Shukla had not purchased the elephant alone. "Shukla initially presented the issue as a theft, claiming the elephant was worth nearly Rs 1 crore. We registered a case of cheating. However, when we traced the elephant in Chhapra on Monday, further facts emerged," she explained, as reported by The Indian Express.

"We discovered that the elephant was not under the sole ownership of the complainant, but had actually been jointly purchased by four partners. Three of these partners had executed an agreement and sold the elephant to the man in Chhapra for Rs 27 lakh," the senior police officer stated, revealing the unexpected complexity of the case.

Multiple reports indicate that Gorakh Singh has presented valid documentation supporting his purchase of the elephant. Jayamati currently remains with Singh under a custody bond, and authorities have requested all involved parties to produce relevant documentation on Monday. "Only after verifying these documents can we establish the actual legal ownership," the police chief concluded.