A female elephant of a temple near here today trampled its mahout to death triggering panic among devotees who ran helter-skelter.
The nine-year old elephant 'Masini' got "provoked," all of a sudden and it lifted the mahout Gajendran and trampled him to death, an official of the famous Mariamman temple at Samayapuram told PTI.
The elephant was donated to the temple in 2016 by former Chief Minster, the late J Jayalalithaa coinciding with her birthday that year.
He said the cause of provocation was not known.
The jumbo appeared to be "agitated and angered," but did not harm anyone else including the deceased mahout's son who was in the vicinity.
A team of veterinary doctors managed to calm down the elephant, he said.
Police officials and the District Forest Officer were camping in the area to monitor the situation.
On some devotees getting injured, the official said they fell down and got hurt while trying to flee the spot in the melee.
Following the incident, which happened at the outer corridor (prahara) of the temple, the shrine was closed for offering prayers.
After performing pujas for the unfortunate incident, the temple would be opened tomorrow, he said.
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