An elephant, in musth till two weeks ago, ran amok and killed its owner at Teekoy, near Erattupetta, on Wednesday.
The police said Sekharan, an elephant owned by Babu Thomas, 52, of Ozhakkal House, Erattupetta, was in musth till two weeks back and was in an irate mood from the morning. The elephant was more loyal to the owner than the mahout and, hence, the owner himself arrived to tame him. However, while Thomas was feeding him jackfruit, the elephant suddenly turned violent, hit the owner with his trunk and gored him . Thomas died on the spot. Sabu C. Isaac, veterinary surgeon, said the elephant was later tamed with a tranquiliser shot and chained at a plantation nearby. The police said the elephant had killed at least four persons earlier. A few years back, he had killed one of his mahouts and the local people had taken out a rally to the residence of the owner. Ever since the incident, Sekharan was prohibited from attending temple festivals and mostly confined to work in sawmills.
