A man was killed by a wild elephant in Anuppur district of Madhya Pradesh, the police said on Friday.
The incident happened on Thursday evening when the elephant came out of Jaithari forest range and entered the fields at Gobri village. When the villagers tried to chase the elephant away, the animal trampled Gyanchand Gaur, 50, to death.
Jitendra Singh Panwar, Superintendent of Police, Anuppur district, told The Hindu, “We recovered the body late in the night and handed it over to the family.”
Meanwhile, on Thursday night, the situation became tense in the village after villagers threw stones at a team of forest and police officials. As per local reports, the elephant had been roaming in the nearby areas for over a month and the villagers were upset, alleging inaction from authorities.
Two persons also suffered bullet injuries as some people fired gun shots amid the protests, Mr. Panwar said, adding that a magisterial probe has been ordered to find out who fired the shots.
The injured have been admitted to the Shahdol Medical College.
He also added that three forest officials and three police personnel were also injured in the stone throwing incident.
Meanwhile, State Chief Minister Mohan Yadav expressed grief over the incident and announced financial assistance of ₹10 lakh to the deceased’s family.
“The Chief Minister has directed to provide assistance of ₹8 lakh to the family of the deceased as per the rules of the Forest Department and ₹2 lakh from the Chief Minister’s voluntary grant. He said that the government will provide all possible help for the livelihood of the family,” his office posted on X.
