Separated from herd, elephant kills 4 in J'khand

EVEN though a slew of measures have been taken to minimise the man-animal conflict in Jharkhand, there seems to be no respite.

- Mukesh Ranjan @Ranchi

An elephant, believed to be separated from its herd, trampled four people to death in Jharkhand's Gumla and Simdega districts within 12 hours between Thursday and Friday, officials said.

The lone elephant, said to be furious, has wrought havoc in the Bano region of Simdega. The victims have been identified as Christopher Ekka (60) and Hemvati Devi (35) from Gumla's Palkot and Sibiraya Lugun (45) and Vikas Ohdar (28) of Simdega's Bano.

The elephant was first seen in the Bano area of Simdega, where it killed two people. Lugun had gone to collect mahua flowers from the jungles of Pabuda Panchayat in the Bano police station area when she got trampled by the elephant.