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. The incident took place on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday in Darhora village under Pratappur forest range when locals were trying to drive the elephants back into forest after they strayed into the village, a local police official said.

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

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

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

Three state forest officials and a guard have been suspended in this connection, while a show cause notice 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 the past from the thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, consisting of Surguja, Surajpur, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur, Balrampur and Koriya districts.

The region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread damage 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.