Korba (Chhattisgarh): A tusker elephant, which was roaming in the forests of Thadpakhna village under the Pali sub-forest area of the district for four days, crushed a villager to death late at night on Wednesday, September 4.
The incident occurred on Wednesday at 9.30 PM in the Thadpakhan village under the Pali forest sub-range when Mewa Ram Dhanuhar (60) was at his residence, said Kumar Nishant, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Katghora forest division.
The victim had gone out to his vegetable garden behind the house and all of a sudden came face to face with the elephant following which the tusker caught hold of Mewaram with its trunk and trampled him to death, the DFO said. On the same day, this elephant had also killed a bull in nearby Mudabhata village, forest officials confirmed.
On receiving the information about the death of a person, forest and police personnel reached the spot and sent the body for post-mortem. Immediate relief of Rs 25,000 was provided to the family of the deceased, while the remaining compensation of Rs 5.75 lakh is to be given after completing the formalities.
Teams of forest personnel are monitoring the activities of the elephant, which is moving towards Chotia Range," the DFO added.
In the past month, this same tusker has killed four people. Earlier, in Mudabhata (Madan) near Pali, the elephant attacked two bulls tied outside the house in the morning, due to which the bovine died on the spot. Another bull has been injured and is being treated by a veterinarian.
In August, three people were killed by this same tusker in the Katghora Forest Division in Korba district. This lone elephant, which had strayed from its herd, roamed near human settlements, killing three women in different places in the same district. With the death of Mewaram, the animal has now claimed the lives of four people in 30 days.
Human-elephant conflict has been a major cause of concern in the northern part of Chhattisgarh over the past decade. In the last few years, the menace has begun to spread to districts in the central region of the state.
Elephant attacks have been reported in Surguja, Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, Mahasamund, Dhamtri, Gariabandh, Balod, Balrampur and Kanker districts. According to forest department officials, about 310 people have been killed in elephant attacks in the state in the last five years.
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