KORBA: A 58-year-old man was trampled to death by an elephant in Pratappur area of Chhattisgarh's Surajpur district, a forest official said today.
Mahesh Gond, a native of Ghumadand village in the district, was yesterday attacked by the tusker while he had gone to pluck tendu leaves in Pratappur area under Surajpur forest division, he said.
Some other villagers, who were also in the forest, managed to run away when they saw the pachyderm but Mahesh failed to escape in time.
The elephant smashed him to the ground with its trunk before trampling him to death, he said.
The police and forest officials rushed to the spot after getting information about the incident.
The man's body was handed over to his relatives after the postmortem, the official said adding that a case has been registered in this connection.
The kin of the deceased have been given an instant relief amount of Rs 25,000 by the forest department, he said.
Several incidents of human-elephant conflict have been reported in the past from the thick forested northern Chhattisgarh, consisting of Surguja, Surajpur, Korba, Raigarh, Jashpur, Balrampur and Korea districts.
The region has witnessed several killings of tribals and widespread damage to houses and crops by rogue elephants.