At least five people were killed in two separate incidents by a wild elephant that got separated from its herd in Jharkhand’s Lohardaga district in the past 24 hours, forest officials said on Monday.
Muniya Devi, the 35-year-old woman, was crushed to death at Masiyatu in Kudu police station. Meanwhile, four more people were killed by the elephant in the vicinity of Kaspur village, under the Bhandra police station, in the early hours of Monday. The victims have been identified as Uraav (28), Neha Devi (20) Sukoon, and Lal Mohan (65).
The villagers claimed that people went out early in the morning for defecation, and during this period the errant elephant crushed them one after the other.
All the dead bodies were brought to the Sadar Hospital for post-mortem, following the autopsy. The deceased’s body was handed over to the respective family members.
The state government has announced an immediate relief amount of Rs 25 thousand to each of the victims’ family members. The DFO added that after the government procedures, each victim’s family will receive Rs 3.75 lakh in compensation.
Officials of the forest department arrived on the spot after the incident to look into the situation. The officer believed that it was certain that the same elephant was behind all the five killings in the district since Sunday evening.
The shocking incident mesmerised the villagers. Although they are being warned by the forest officials through loudspeakers, the situation is grim in the village.
However, the forest guards have been camping in the village to help people. Later, a team of experts is being called from Bakuda in West Bengal to chase away the elephant.
DFO Arvind Kumar said, as per the preliminary findings, the elephant may have entered from Latehar district on Sunday and killed one person. It later entered the Bhandar area from there and attacked anyone who came in its way, he added.
Kumar further added that people don’t know how to deal with elephants, so they go near them in excitement. “We are, however, attempting to instruct them on the importance of not disturbing the animal.
