ROURKELA; Seventeen days after being radio-collared, a tusker killed a 68-year-old man in the wee hours of Friday at Matosahi hamlet of Patmunda village under Koida forest range of Bonai Forest Division in Sundargarh district.
If sources are to be believed, the tusker picked the elderly man, Soma Munda, by its trunk and threw him on the ground before trampling him to death.
While divisional forest officer of Bonai Lalit Patra could not be reached for his comment, a forest official said Munda was reportedly fermenting country liquor when the jumbo arrived at the spot after being drawn to the smell of liquor.
“The locality has a handful of scattered houses and the elephant damaged at least two of them before killing the elderly man while he was attempting to escape,” the forest officer said adding, the tusker had earlier killed other villagers.
Asked if the radio collar device helped in tracking movement of the elephant, he said the jumbo’s movement was being tracked but since it got attracted to the smell of liquor, the animal rapidly moved towards the said area.
Angry over the incident, villagers questioned the efficacy of radio collaring and sought immediate shifting of the tusker. They pointed out that the jumbo has so far claimed over 10 lives and damaged around 300 houses.
On Thursday, a forest guard of Barsuan range and a tracker of Kuliposh area under the division were injured after being attacked by an elephant while they were carrying out a tracking exercise.