A peasant, Alu Laccheya (65), was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Nimapalli village under the Digapahandi forest range in Odisha’s Ganjam district on Tuesday.
According to forest officials, the elephant has strayed out of a herd that has entered the Berhampur forest division from the Lakhari elephant sanctuary. For the past one week, this herd is roaming around and destroying standing crops at villages on the outskirts of Berhampur and in Chikiti block.
The lone elephant has been moving around in the Changudidei hill area in the Digapahandi forest range. Around 3 a.m. on Tuesday the tusker reached a paddy harvesting point at Nimapalli in search of food. Mr. Laccheya was sleeping there to guard the harvested paddy. When the elephant reached near him, he suddenly got up and flashed a torch at the pachyderm. This irked the elephant which trampled him.
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Forest officials took Mr. Laccheya to the Digapahandi Community Health Centre where he was declared dead, said Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Amlan Nayak.
According to the DFO, the family of the deceased would be provided ₹4 lakh compensation.