The carcass of a tusker, suspected to have been killed about four days ago, was found today with both its ivory hacked away in Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary under Jorhat Forest Division.

The carcass of the fully grown and mature elephant was recovered between Madhupur camp and Boi Diha camp within the Sanctuary, forest officials said.

Samples of the carcass has been sent to the forensic laboratory for further tests as the exact cause of the death could not be ascertained in the postmortem.

Veterinarian Numol Chandra Doley, who performed the post mortem said the exact cause could not be ascertained and the tusker could have been poisoned or shot at as two holes were found but they did not find any ammunitions near the spot.

Senior forest officials pointed out that the value of the two missing teeth (ivory) was estimated to be about Rs one crore.

This is the fourth elephant killed within the last one week in Assam while another was injured and its trunk removed.

An ailing male tusker died and its flesh and trunk were hacked by unidentified miscreants in Dulung Reserve Forest in Lakhimpur district on December 7.

The elephant had died a natural death but before the forest employees could reach the spot, the miscreants hacked the trunk and cut away a portion of its meat.

Two male elephants were electrocuted by high voltage wires in Golaghat district on December 4 when a herd of about 40 elephants had come down from the neighbouring Karbi Hills to a paddy field.

In another tragic incident, an injured elephant was stuck in the mud for several days and its tusks removed near Pancharatna in Goalpara, forest officials said.