Lawyer Sreejith Perumana released it with a soundbite of a woman accusing him of conspiring with forest officials to translocate the tusker to an arid region.
“There is ample scope for him to return and unite with his herd in Chinnakanal. Only the land mafia there is targeting him,” said conservation activist MN Jayachandran.
“More people now know that he roamed around only in his territory — and that it is humans who have encroached and occupied his home,” Jayachandran added.
Meanwhile, anti-wildlife elements, who had attempted to mobilise public opinion against Arikomban initially, have faced a backlash since his second capture.
VR Vinayaraj was inundated with angry social media responses after he posted that Arikomban must be eliminated with “a single bullet” for the sake of the farming community.
Mainstream political parties in Kerala, which had earlier targeted Arikomban, have also turned defensive due to the he growing sympathy for the tusker.