Man trampled to death by elephants in Chhattisgarh

A herd of elephants trampled an 18-year-old man to death at a forest in Chhattisgarhs Surajpur district, police said on Monday. incident took place on intervening night of Saturday and Sunday in Darhora vill under Pratappur forest range when locals were trying to drive elephants back into forest after y strayed into vill, a local police official said.

While tuskers were running amok, victim, identified as Maniram, came in ir way and elephants trampled him to death, he said. After being alerted about it on Sunday, forest and police personnel rushed to spot and sent body for postmortem, he said.

kin of deceased have been provided an instant relief amount of Rs 25,000, official said, adding that remaining compensation of Rs 5.75 lakh will be provided to m after completion of necessary formalities. Villrs have been asked to remain alert as a herd of 10 to 12 elephants was still roaming in area, he said.

Last week, carcasses of two elephants were recovered from Pratappur forest range of Surajpur on June 9 and 10, while ar elephant was found dead in neighbouring Balrampur district on June 11.

Three state forest officials and a guard have been suspended in this connection, while a show cause tice has been issued to a divisional forest officer in Balrampur for alleged dereliction of duty, an official said on Sunday.

Several incidents of human-elephant conflict have been reported in past from thick forested rrn Chhattisgarh, consisting of Surguja, Surajpur, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur, Balrampur and Koriya districts.

region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread dam to houses and crops by rogue elephants.

On Sunday, a 15-year-old boy was trampled to death by a wild elephant in Chhal forest range of Raigarh.