Fear gripped Ayyagaripalle village of Yerravari Palem mandal on Monday after a 15-member herd of wild elephants had killed a bamboo collector Venkataiah (40) in the early hours.
According to the Yerravaripalem police, Venkataiah, a former Naxal sympathiser, would regularly collect bamboo material from deep forests of the Seshachalam hills and sell it to the basket makers. He ventured into the forest before dawn, despite warning from neighbourhood about the movement of wild elephants closeby.
His younger brother entered the forest in the morning to join Venkataiah and found his trampled body across the jungle path.
Yerravaripalem SI Gopi rushed to the spot, followed by senior forest officials from Tirupati and confirmed that the man was killed by wild elephants. “At present, 15 elephants are roaming close to the village. The deceased is survived by mother and two younger brothers,” he said.
The forest officials announced an ex gratia of ₹5 lakh to the kin of the deceased. The villagers were warned to be cautious and avoid entering the jungles for the next one week in view of jumbos’ movement.