Elephant Tramples Farmer to Death in Hazaribag, Wife Injured

Hazaribag: An elephant trampled a 50-year-old farmer to death in Hazaribag district and injured his wife in the early hours of Thursday. The couple, a resident of Chutiyaro village under Mufassil police station limits, was trying to protect their tomato harvest from the raiding elephant when it attacked. Roshan Kumar, the officer-in-charge of Mufassil police station, said locals have been asked to remain alert at night.The death is the latest in a string of fatalities caused by human-elephant conflicts in Jharkhand. Another lone elephant in West Singhbhum district has killed 17 people in a week. The deceased Aditya Rana and his wife Shanti Devi were sleeping in a makeshift shelter on their farm at night to guard their tomato harvest. Locals said when the elephant entered their farm and began damaging their crop, the couple tried to chase the pachyderm away. The elephant, however, turned around and attacked. Rana was trampled by the pachyderm, leading to his death on the spot. His wife, however escaped with grave injuries.Hearing their screams, nearby villagers rushed to the spot, but by then the elephant fled towards the forest. Shanti Devi was immediately taken to Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College and Hospital (SBMCH), where she is undergoing treatment. “Her condition is stable now, and she is out of danger,” Dr Abhishek Kumar, a surgeon at SBMCH, said.DFO(east) Vikash Kumar Ujjwal told TOI that his team active in that area keeping eyes on the movement of the lone elephant which killed Aditya last night.He cautioned people as not to risk their lives by sleeping in the field. “Our department compensates for crops damaged by elephants and so its not right to stay in the field in night that too when information about presence of an elephant in that area,” Kumar said. The jumbo was camping in Silwar till late evening.