Bhopal: Days after 10 elephants died at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in what is being seen as a suspected case of Kodo millet poisoning, a tusker went on a rampage in nearby villages, killing two people and critically injuring a third.
The three men were attacked by an adult male elephant in separate incidents Saturday morning, in two villages—Deora, located roughly 27 kilometres from Bandhavgarh, and Banka, about eight kilometres from Deora.
Speaking to ThePrint, Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve’s deputy director Prakash Verma confirmed that none of the three surviving elephants from the Bandhavgarh herd was involved in the attacks. “The remaining three from the herd of 13 were spotted near the burial site (of their 10 companions).”
In Deora, a 62-year-old man identified as Ram Ratan Yadav was allegedly crushed to death by a group of four elephants when he went to an adjoining jungle area to relieve himself at around 7 am Saturday.
Sources in the forest department told ThePrint that one of the deceased, Yadav, was seated near a boundary wall in the jungle when an elephant attacked him from the back.
About an hour later, in nearby Banka, one Bhairav Kole, 32, was killed when he too went near the jungle to relieve himself. Minutes later, a third individual, identified as Sandeep Kole, was allegedly attacked by the said elephant while he was working in his paddy fields, town inspector of Chandia police station Bhanu Pratap Bhawedi told ThePrint.
Bhawedi further said that Yadav was warned by a woman in his village to not go towards the jungle as she had spotted elephants in that area. “But not paying heed, Yadav went ahead and was attacked. The villagers informed us that they had spotted one elephant while there might be more in the area.”
By Saturday afternoon, a team was put together to tranquillise the tusker, but in vain.
In an official statement Saturday, additional principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) L. Krishnamoorthy said government special investigation and special task force teams along with Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, New Delhi are investigating the case.
MP’s forest minister Ramniwas Rawat, chief wildlife warden (CWLW) Vijay N. Ambade, additional chief secretary (forest) Ashok Barnwal and principal chief conservator of forest (wildlife) Aseem Shrivastava visited the spot.
Barnwal and Shrivastava reached Bandhavgarh Saturday morning and visited Deora before reaching the burial spot at Salkani village.
“Since it is very difficult to do anything in the dark, we are not going ahead with it today,” a senior forest officer told ThePrint Saturday.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav held a review meeting Friday night with chief secretary Anurag Jain, Barnwal and Shrivastava to discuss the Bandhavgarh elephant deaths.
CM Yadav, who was informed that viscera samples had been sent for testing, said at the meeting that poisoning from Kodo was unheard of, it is learnt. Surprised at the speculated cause of death, he sent officials to ascertain the true cause.
At the tiger reserve, the 10 dead elephants have been buried in massive pits dug up using backhoe loaders and filled with salt to allow the carcasses to decompose.
Villagers living in and around Bandhavgarh have been advised to either harvest their kodo millet over the next two days or their crop will be destroyed by forest department teams, Verma said. “Adequate compensation for the same would be given to the farmers.” It is suspected that the 10 elephants that died in Bandhavgarh had consumed fungus-infested kodo millet stacked next to fields for several days.
Forest officials said that they were collecting samples from fields and water bodies when the said herd of 13 elephants obstructed their work, as a result of which they were shooed away from the site.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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