Uttarakhand elephant 'heir' to Rs 5 crore property

DEHRADUN: As ‘The Elephant Whisperer’ bagged an Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards on Monday, the ‘sacred bond’ between humans and elephants depicted in the documentary seems to find resonance with the story of two elephants of Uttarakhand. In perhaps the first such instance in the country, an elephant owner and conservationist, Akhtar Imam, had willed his share of property worth Rs 5 crore in the name of two of his elephants, Rani and Moti.
Now, Rani, who is around 28 years old, is the sole ‘heir’ to Akhtar’s property, as Moti died last month at 35 years, after battling for almost a month against multiple external and internal ailments.
In an old video of his, Akhtar had said that he didn’t want his elephants to be orphaned if he died. “We have seen so many elephants having no one to take care of them after their owners die. They suffer from scarcity of food, medicine and medical treatment. I don’t want this to happen to my elephants and, therefore, I have willed my property in their names. They are like my family members,” he had said.
Ironically, Akhtar was allegedly murdered in 2021,after which his two elephants became ‘owners’ of his property.
“Akhtar Imam was probably the first person in independent India to will his share of property in the name of jumbos,” said wildlife conservationist Imran Khan, who looked after the elephants in Ramnagar under Akhtar’s Asian Elephant Rehabilitation and Wildlife Animal Trust (AERWAT) Foundation, which Imam had set up to take care of his jumbos.
This responsibility was entrusted to Imran by the Uttarakhand forest department in December 2021 as Khan is a wildlife conservationist.
The only twist to the taleof proud owner Rani is that she is in Ramnagar and the property is in Patna. Akhtar had brought his jumbos from Bihar to Ramnagar in Uttarakhand in 2020 when the Covid-19 curbs were first lifted, as he suspected that there was a threat to his life. He had parted ways from his wife and sons. But his own prophecy unfolded and he was allegedly murdered in November 2021.
Now, the fruits of Akhtar’s benevolent gesture and the life he had imagined for Rani before his death can only turn true if the AERWAT Foundation, which has reportedly run out of funds, gets financial aid through Rani’s property in Patna.