A 50-year-old man was trampled to death by a wild elephant near Coonoor on Monday night.
The victim was identified as K. Nagarajan, a daily wage labourer from Jogikombai Irula Tribal hamlet near Coonoor.
According to preliminary inquiries, the incident occurred when the victim had gone to Kozhithurai village near Coonoor to visit his sister Rukmani on Monday night. Kotagiri Ranger N. Musthafa said that the man was in an inebriated condition when he reached Maamaram Estate. “There were many jackfruit trees in that estate and this being the jackfruit season it attracted wild elephants. People of that locality do not use the road at night due to this reason,” the ranger said. He added that the estate watchman had refused to allow the man on Maamaram to Kozhikarai estate road for this reason.
However, the man was said to have picked a quarrel with the watchman and entered the estate road when an elephant trampled him to death. On information received from estate workers who returned to work on Tuesday, the forest and police personnel retrieved Nagarajan’s body.
Forest Department personnel said that his family assumed that he would have reached Kozhithurai and did not search for him. His body was taken to the Kotagiri Government Hospital for post-mortem examination and then handed over to his family. A sum of Rs. 25,000 was given to the victim’s family as immediate relief. The remaining Rs. 2.75 lakh will be handed over soon.
District Forest Officer (in-charge) for the Nilgiris North Division K. Rajkumar, Revenue Divisional Officer of Coonoor P. Geetha Priya and Deputy Superintendent of Police G. Subramaniam visited the place and conducted preliminary inquiries. The Forest Department has posted a forest guard and four anti-poaching watchers there to stop people from entering the area at night.
