Kumki Elephant Yashoda Kills Man In Satkosia

Angul: In a bizarre incident, a trained female elephant killed a man at Satkosia Wildlife Sanctuary in Odisha’s Angul district on Thursday.

The deceased was identified as Sudur Padhan (49) of Matiasahi village under Purunakote police limits in the district.

Giving details about the incident in a release, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Angul, V Kartik said Kumki elephant Yashoda was tied near Nandini Nalia in front of the Range Office at Purunakote after the mahout had given her a bath and he was to feed her bamboo stalks.

At around 11.45 am, Padhan went to the place where she was tied with a banana plant, despite being warned against it by the mahout and forest staff.

The female elephant pulled the man along with the banana plant and trampled him to death, the DFO said.

He said Rs 4 lakh compensatory amount has been sanctioned for the next of the kin of the victim of which Rs 40,000 will be paid immediately as ex gratia.

Meanwhile, the Purunakote police have taken the body of the deceased for postmortem.

Notably, the Forest department had brought Yashoda from Chandaka Wildlife Sanctuary to the Satkosia Sanctuary on October 3 for tranqualising the Royal Bengal tigress Sundari.