A herd of elephants went on a rampage and killed a man after a calf from the group was killed by villagers in Chhattisgarh's Korba district, a forest official said on Friday.
The incidents took place in the Katghora forest division.
An elephant calf, around one-year-old, was allegedly killed by locals and buried in a field in Bania village under the Pasan forest range sometime earlier this week, said Premlata Yadav, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO).
The herd of 44 elephants to which the calf belonged entered the nearby Devmatti village in the Jatga range on late Thursday night. The elephants trampled Pintawar Singh and his three cattle to death when he was in his cattle shed, the official said.
“Forest personnel have been monitoring the herd's movement. Locals have been advised to remain alert and avoid going near the herd,” DFO Yadav said.
A team of forest officials visited the Bania village after being tipped off about the calf's killing.
They found that paddy had been planted freshly on the patch of land where the carcass was buried to cover up the killing, Yadav said.
Forest personnel exhumed the carcass. The exact cause of death will be known after the autopsy report arrives, she said.
The owner of the farm where the calf was buried was detained for questioning, the official said.
The family of the man who was killed by elephants in Devmatti village was provided an instant relief amount of Rs 25,000 while the remaining compensation of Rs 5.75 lakh will be given after the completion of formalities, she said.
According to officials, this herd of elephants has damaged crops on 22 acres of land in three villages in the area in the last two days.
The human-elephant conflict has been a major issue in northern Chhattisgarh for the last decade but such incidents are also being witnessed in the central region of the state in the last few years.
The districts prominently affected by human-elephant conflict are Surguja, Raigarh, Korba, Surajpur, Gariaband, Jashpur, and Balrampur.
According to the forest department, at least 210 people were killed in elephant attacks in the state in the last three years.
The state also reported deaths of 47 elephants in the last four years with the causes ranging from ailments and old age to electrocution.
An elephant was found dead last week in Korba and Raigarh districts.
(Inputs from PTI)
