Man mauled to death by elephant

A man was killed by an elephant in a forest area of Chhattisgarh’s Korba district, an official said on Wednesday.

This is the fourth incident of a person being killed in human-animal conflict in the past one month in the Kudmura forest range of the state.

The victim, identified as Sahambhuram Rathiya (45), was killed by the elephant last evening when he had gone to take bath in a pond at Chachiya village under Kudmura forest range, Korba Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Vivekanand Jha said.

When Rathiya did not return home, his family launched a search and found his mauled body near the pond, he said.

Soon after getting the news of the incident, police personnel and forest officials rushed to the spot.

Earlier, a woman from Barpali village was trampled to death by an elephant on May 12, and a resdidnet Katradera village and Baldev Rathiya were killed by the jumbos on May 15 in the same forest range.

The thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, comprising Surguja, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur and Korea districts, has witnessed many incidents of human-elephant conflict.

The region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread damage to houses and crops by elephants in the past few years.