KODERMA/DALTONGANJ: Four persons were trampled to death by elephants in two separate incidents in Koderma and Latehar districts on Thursday and Friday.
A 55-year-old man was killed by an elephant in Koderma's Markaccho block on Friday morning. The deceased was identified as Lakhan Das. Das was a resident of Vrinda village in Giridih's Padariya Panchayat.
In Daltonganj, a herd of elephants trampled three members of a family to death at Maalhan village under Chandwa police station limits in Latehar district on the intervening nights of Thursday and Friday. The deceased included a couple and their minor daughter.
In the Koderma incident, villagers said the victim, Das, used to play traditional drums (Dhol) for a living and was returning home when he came in the way of an elephant near Ambadih village under Paplo panchayat. The incident occurred around 4 am.
After the incident, the herd of elephants reached Kapilo and Chano villages of Birni, where they caused further damage.
Many houses, including an anganwadi centre, had their doors broken. Additionally, the elephants trampled jethuwa (summer) crops. Suraj Kumar Singh, the divisional forest officer (DFO), said: “A sum of Rs 25,000 was handed over to the kin of the deceased for carrying out his last rites. Another Rs 4 lakh will be given as per norms of the state government once formalities are complete.” Notably, locals and forest officials have been sighting a herd of 25 elephants in the area for the past couple of weeks.
It is not clear whether one of the elephants from the herd killed Das after straying away. “The forest department is continuously monitoring the movement and trying to chase elephants in the safer zone,” the DFO said. In the other incident, a herd of elephants trampled three members of a family to death at Maalhan village under Chandwa police station limits in Latehar district on the intervening nights of Thursday and Friday. “The deceased were identified as Panuwa Bhuiyan (26), his wife Babita Devi (24) and the couple’s three-year-old daughter Manjisha,” Chandwa police station incharge Amit Gupta said.
Kumar Ashutosh, the regional chief conservator of forests (Palamu), said Panuwa and Babita were brick kiln workers at Maalhan. “They were asleep in their makeshift dwelling with their daughter when it was attacked by a herd of 14 to 16 elephants,” he added. The herd even has a tusker, he said. Residents of Bhandarya block in Garhwa district, the couple tried to run away to safety from the herd along with their child, but in vain. Gupta said Babita and Manjisha’s corpse were found together, while Panuwa’s corpse was recovered a little distance away. Ashutosh said the kin of the deceased were paid Rs 60,000 for carrying out the last rites. Forest officials said the elephant herd had entered Chandwa from Gumla and had moved towards Barwa Toli which was close to Kuru in Lohardaga district on Friday morning.
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