t that was captured by the forest department of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu last July, Murthy had struck terror in more than a dozen villages in and around the Mudumalai national park. In the five years before his capture, the five-tonne pachyderm had killed 12 villagers in a 400 sq km area, been a regular crop-raider and damaged farmland and several houses. Now partially tame and under training at the state-run elephant camp, Murthy is at the centre of a jumbo controversy that - this time at least - is not of his making. A local animal welfare organisation called the India Project for Animals and Nature (IPAN) has launched an international campaign for custody of Murthy, accusing the forest department of ill-treatment of the animal. Last month, 31 influential U.S. lawmakers and Hollywood actress Kim Basinger petitioned the Indian envoy in Washington, demanding the elephant`s immediate release. Tamil Nadu forest department officials are amused by IPAN`s charges. One of them, Udhayan, said the elephant was bound to be injured during its 40-km trek to the camp after its capture as it struggled a lot at the chains on its legs. He said the entire controversy began after IPAN was stopped from helping treat the animal. Raman Sukumar, chairman of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group based in the southern Indian city of Bangalore, seems to agree. The Asian Elephant Specialist Group is a leading non-governmental agency involved in research and efforts to conserve Asian elephants across the continent. "It is not at all practical to hand it over to IPAN or any other organisation as it is a wild animal and the camp is the best place to keep it," he said.