KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Nov 12: A 10-year-old boy was trampled to death by a wild elephant at Ichagarh in the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district about 45 km away from here on Friday evening,
Identified as Lal Mohan Mahto was trampled to death while he was responding to nature’s call at a small forest patch a little distance away from his village.
The tragedy took place near Datem village under Kukru panchayat where the victim would live. What was most shocking is that the boy was killed as his father Vibhishan was waiting for him about 50 metres away.
According to sources, both father and son had gone to sell chickens at Kukru weekly ‘haat’ from their village on Friday. While returning home from Kukru, it was already dark, but incidentally, the boy felt the pressure.
“As the area is elephant-prone, the father Vibhishan was guarding his son while the latter was relieving himself by going over to a bush. But both of them failed to take notice of a tusker which came to the victim and trampled him to death, ” described a villager while talking to lagatar24.com.
A forest department official said that the killer tusker separated itself from a herd of elephants which has come from the bordering Purulia district of Bengal.
“We had been trying to drive the migratory elephant away to Bengal, but as it was adequate food and water in the stretch, it was reluctant to go back, ” said the forest officer.
The forest officer also informed they have paid a part of the compensation amount of Rs four lakhs to the parents of the trampling death victim.
