Karanjia: The Forest Department of the Odisha Government today dismissed two of its contractual employees from service in connection with the incident of fire torches being thrown at a herd of elephant at a farmland under Karanjia Forest Division in Mayurbhanj district.

Those placed under suspension are Deepak Munda and Bapi Majhi, informed Dudhiani Forest Range Officer Pradeep Prusty.

The two and some locals had allegedly hurled fire torches at the pachyderms at Badaguma village under Dudhiani Forest Range recently in a bid to ward off the elephants.

A purported video of the incident had surfaced on various social media platforms and gone viral.

The department, taking cognizance of the clip, had started an investigation into the matter.