Udhagamandalam: A 43-year-old tribal man was trampled to death by a rogue tusker while grazing buffaloes close to Chemmanarai tribal hamlet in the Kotagiri division of forests here on Wednesday evening.
The deceased was identified as D Mahalingam, a resident of Chemmanarai. According to police, Mahalingam had on Wednesday gone out to a private land close to his village to graze buffaloes. A tusker, meanwhile, strayed into the area and suddenly attacked him.
“The elephant smashed Mahalingam’s head, killing him on the spot,” Srinivasan, Kotagiri forest range officer, told TOI. “Elepant movements were never reported in Chemmanarai area. The tusker might have strayed into the habitat in search of water,” he added.
Hearing the elephant trumpeting, local residents informed forest officials, who reached the spot immediately and found the tusker roaming in the area.
“We chased the elephant away into the forest and retrieved the body, which was sent to the Kotagiri government hospital,” the forest ranger said.
Postmortem operation couldn’t be performed on Wednesday as the body reached the hospital only at night. On Thursday, the body was handed over to the kin of the deceased after the autopsy.
An initial compensation of Rs 50, 000 was also handed over to the victim’s family on Thursday. “After due formalities, the remaining amount of Rs 3.50 lakh will be given to the family of the deceased,” an official, who didn’t want to be named, said.
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