Man trampled to death by elephant in Chhattisgarh

A 31-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant in a residential colony in Korba district of Chhattisgarh, police said on 21 July.

This is the fifth such incident in the district within a month, officials said.

The victim, identified as Ramkumar Jangde, was attacked by the elephant in SECL's Colony under Rajgamar police outpost while he was taking a walk near his house last night, Korba Additional Superintendent of Police Tarkeshwar Patel said.

Jangde was a contractual employee with the district hospital and his father worked with South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL).

"The victim was taking a stroll along with other residents of the colony when the tusker landed there from nowhere. Jangde tried to escape from the spot, but the pachyderm held him by its trunk and slammed him several times on the ground, which resulted in his death," Patel said.

However, other people somehow managed to escape and saved their lives, he added.

After getting the information, the forest officials and a police team rushed to the spot.

Upset over the incident, the local residents gheraoed the forest personnel and expressed their anger.

However, they were pacified by senior officials of the administration and police, who reached the spot to handle the situation.

The kin of the deceased have been given an immediate relief amount of Rs 25,000 by the forest department, the ASP said adding that the remaining compensation will be disbursed soon after completion of the necessary process.

With this incident, as many as five people have lost their lives in elephant attacks at separate places in the district in the past 21 days.

The thickly-forested northern region of Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur and Korea districts, is notorious for human-elephant conflict.

The region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread damages to houses and crops by rogue elephants the in the recent past.

-PTI