In Karnataka, farmer tries to scare jumbo with torch, crushed to death

BENGALURU: A

farmer

’s attempt to scare a

wild elephant

in his field by flashing a torchlight resulted in tragedy on Sunday night: The jumbo trampled him to death.


Thammegowda S, 65, died at 2.30am in Hegganur village near Kanakapura.

A forest official said Thammegowda had dozed off while guarding his ragi field. The elephant stamped on his crop and trampled the shed in which he was sleeping. He tried to scare the jumbo with a

torch

, but it boomeranged. Hearing his cries for help, villagers alerted forest officials. Thammegowda was rushed to Kanakapura government hospital and later to Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru, but he didn’t survive.

The forest department will give Rs 5 lakh compensation to his family; he had two daughters and a son, another official said.

Hegganur village falls in the fringes of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary; crop raids by elephants are common there between November and February. “We have stepped up patrolling in the forest fringes and are asking villagers not to venture out at night. But they do so to save their crops,” he added.