Bhubaneswar: The ailing kumki elephant ‘Nanda’ died at Chandaka-Dampara sanctuary, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, around 3 am on Monday.
Though it was suffering from fever for the past couple of days, the exact cause of the death can be known after the autopsy, a Forest official said.
Nanda was born to the elephant ‘Basanti’ at Nandankanan zoo in 1987. It was shifted to Kumarakhunti of Chandaka in October 2010, where the animal was trained to prevent the menace of stray elephants. Notably, it had killed a mahout Radha Raman Singh on November 28, 1997.