Days after a pregnant elephant died in Kerala after it was fed a pineapple stuffed with firecrackers, the Central government on Thursday took a serious note of the incident and said that it will be investigated properly.

“We will not leave any stone unturned to investigate properly and nab the culprits, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said, while adding that “it is not an Indian culture to feed fire crackers and kill”.

“Environment Ministry has taken a serious note of the death of an elephant in Kerala. Has sought complete report on the incident. Stern action will be taken against the culprit(s),” he said.

Meanwhile, Kerala Forest Minister K Raju has warned of strict action against the culprits responsible for the killing of the pregnant elephant.

He further clarified that the shocking incident happened in Kerala’s Palakkad and not Malappuram as claimed by BJP leader Maneka Gandhi.

Animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi had on Wednesday lashed out at the Kerala government for not taking any action on a pregnant elephant’s barbaric “murder” in Malappuram.

Gandhi had said that Malappuram is India’s most violent district and an elephant is killed every 3 days in Kerala. “It is a murder, Malappuram is famous such incidents, it is India’s most violent district. For instance, they throw poison on roads so that 300-400 birds and dogs die at one time,” she said.

Raju, however, said that he does not want to comment on the remarks at this juncture.

The Kerala Forest department has launched a ‘manhunt’ for those responsible for the death of the 15-year-old pregnant wild elephant.

The incident is of Palakkad when a pregnant elephant had entered into a village in search of food on May 27. But the villagers fed a pineapple stuffed with crackers to it. As the crackers exploded, the elephant suffered serious injuries on its tongue and mouth.

Later she walked into a river and waited for three days as its life was slowly snuffed out.

The incident has attracted huge condemnation on social media, where the memes showed the mother elephant saying it was her fault to trust the human race, while the unborn child in her womb kept asking: “What is my fault, Ma?”