Woman among 2 trampled to death by elephant in C'garh

Two persons, including a woman, were trampled to death by a wild elephant at separate places in Chhattisgarh's Surajpur district, an official said on Sunday.

Somnath Kodku (45), a native of Pratappur village, came face-to-face with the pachyderm on Friday in Pratappur forest range, located around 200 km from Korba, when he went there along with his cattle, divisional forest officer (DFO) Bhanu Pratap Singh said.

The jumbo caught hold of the villager, smashed him on the ground with its trunk before trampling him to death, he said.

When Kodku did not return home, some locals approached the forest department which launched a search.

His body was found in the forest on Saturday morning, Singh said.

The same elephant attacked a group of villagers while they were collecting mushrooms in the forest area near Sarhari village on Saturday.

While the others from the group managed to escape, the tusker caught hold of Rukmin Cherwa (50) and stomped her to death, the DFO said.

The kin of deceased were provided an immediate relief of Rs 25,000 each, he said, adding the remaining compensation will be disbursed soon.

A number of incidents of human-elephant conflict have been reported in the past from the thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, consisting of Surguja, Surajpur, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur, Balrampur and Koriya districts.

The region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread damage to houses and crops by rogue elephants.