Jhargram: Following the death of an elephant calf by drowning in the Subarnarekha River, the enraged mother of the dead elephant attacked the villagers and killed two of them in the Deulbar area under Nayagram police station of West Bengal's Jhargram district on Wednesday.
Locals said the elephant drowned after falling into a sand pit. According to local and forest department sources, a group of 14 elephants, including two cubs, entered the Chandabila range of the Nayagram area from the Rohini side of the Sankrail range under the Kharagpur forest division on Wednesday morning.
At that time, the elephant calf fell into the sand pit and drowned in water. After a prolonged effort, the mother elephant rescued the carcass and took it to an area adjacent to the Rameshwar temple.
The other elephants entered the forest but the aggrieved elephant refused to leave her baby and began to run wildly, roaring due to grief. In such a situation, as soon as the news of the elephant's death spread, many people gathered to see it in the area adjacent to the temple.
Suddenly the enraged elephant chased the villagers and attacked two of them, who died on the spot. According to forest department sources, the deceased were identified as Ananda Jana (73) of Deulbard village and Shasdhar Mahato (60) of Biriberia village.
The elephant smashed a bike and hit a bus on the Rameshwar-Cuttack route. Kharagpur Forest Division forest officer Shivananda Ram said that the calf drowned while crossing the river and two villagers were also killed by the enraged mother elephant.
"Financial assistance will be given to the affected families after looking into the matter in accordance with the government regulations," the forest officer said.
